Star Signs
by Eevee22
Summary: Abnormal. Inactive. Incredibly rude. Those would be the words to describe the newest white-haired student of Seidou, who transferred not because of the school's prestigious sports program, but simply because it was in the area. He'd already planned out his boring and demure high school life, but that might change after meeting his roommates and a certain short baseball captain.
1. Yukari Sekozawa

**New fandom. New fic. Still trying to update my others but can't be bothered.**

**Thoughts?**

* * *

Takashima Rei was irritated for many reasons today.

The first being that normally she would be watching over the baseball club as the manager of the club, watching their general progression and looking out for potential regulars for the team, as her job required. But recently that job had been slowly taken over by the overwhelming task of dealing with a certain hot-headed rookie pitcher that she herself had recruited, and the more she dwelled on it the more she wondered whether recruiting him was a good idea, as he was still not a regular, his skills in baseball surprisingly limited for someone with so much potential. All in all, Sawamura Eijun was too much of a handful.

Secondly, she had been pulled from her usual position to take care of her second job, the recruitment officer and manager of Seidou Academy, and that meant the escorting and chaperoning of the newest student who had arrived a week late into the second week of school because of transport and paperwork issues. Normally she would be fine with this, as Takashima had plenty of patience; however the fact that Sawamura was causing her such a headache was blunting her usual refined self-control.

And lastly, the student himself. His name was Yukari Sekozawa, sixteen and a new second year of Seidou. Takashima didn't know much about him, but there were several things that were immediately striking. The first being that he was surprisingly short for someone his age, at the same height as Tetsuya, the captain of the baseball team, who was the second shortest on the team, after Haruichi. The second thing was his hair – it was unnaturally pure white, like snow, loosely falling on his head uncaringly as if he had just woken up and walked out the door. The third thing about him was his eyes, which were similar to his hair, a ridiculously pale green that Takashima was sure was unnatural, but from what she had gathered this boy seemed rather unnatural himself, his expression blank and uncaring like every one of his features described. But the reason Takashima was irritated with this student was…

"Takashima-san, where are we going next?"

…The fact that he did not once address her as _'sensei'_ and just '-san', as if she wasn't important, and Takashima cleared her throat.

"We're heading to the fields near from here, where the baseball, tennis and track teams train" Takashima replied calmly, and the boy acted as if he didn't even hear her, and Takashima restrained a twitch, mentally taking a slow breath to control her patience and leading the small white-haired boy towards the fields. Hopefully she could keep her patience going until the end, since the student had already moved into his dorm room, though he had yet to meet his roommates as they were busy with sports practice. So far they had covered the classrooms, main hall, dorms and cafeteria, so all was left was the outdoor grounds and they would be done, and Takashima was silently looking forward to returning to the baseball field.

They slowly crossed the grounds, the boy behind her not uttering so much as a sound as they did, and despite the fact his outright rudeness was quite irritating, it was at least quiet for once, and Takashima revelled in the peace, despite that they were moving towards the source of her recently-growing headache.

They heard shouts before they saw the fields, and they both turned a corner and took in the sight of the baseball fields, groups of white-clad boys running back and forth, swinging, pitching and catching, surrounded by the towering metal mesh fence. Takashima simply led the boy forward and stopped when they were several feet from the mesh fence, the members within too occupied to notice them, and Takashima watched the small boy curiously.

"This is Seidou's baseball team. They train here every day for four hours, led by Kataoka Tesshin, a retired baseball pro. Our school's records have us coming in second place in the Nationals, and we expect this year to win" she said calmly, and the boy's expression did not change a millimetre as he watched the team with a bored look.

"I see" he said simply, and Takashima restrained another twitch.

"What do you think, Yukari-kun?" she asked, and the boy didn't even glance at her.

"Their team is interesting" he stated monotonously, "There's a lot of strong players, but there are huge weaknesses in their play"

This time Takashima twitched visibly, but she restrained herself from snapping at his comment. What did he know? He was just another kid.

"Is that so?" she asked patiently, "What are those weaknesses?"

"The pitchers" Yukari stated without blinking, "One pitcher can't throw to save his life, one isn't focusing on team play at all and the other one is trying too hard to not allow the others to overtake him"

Takashima's eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly masked it and smiled falsely. It was true what he said, but the fact he could see it so clearly was a problem.

"How can you tell, Yukari-kun?" she asked, and Yukari still did not turn to her.

"It's obvious" he said simply, "Anyone could see it, and in a real game Seidou would lose if the pitchers were targeted"

_What is up with this kid's attitude?_ She thought acidly, masking her distaste with practiced patience.

"You speak from experience, Yukari-kun" she observed, but again Yukari didn't turn to her.

"I used to play, so I know a thing or two" he said, and Takashima decided she could probably not handle another moment of this student, and so she put on a false smile and nodded to herself.

"Well that concludes my tour, Yukari-kun" she stated evenly, "Classes begin in half an hour, and so you can wander around until then. Do you have your schedule?" she asked, and Yukari simply nodded in response, reaching into the pocket of his uniform trousers and producing a piece of paper with his monotonous expression, and Takashima nodded.

"Good, I'll be going then. Welcome to Seidou Academy, Yukari-kun" she said, and Yukari simply nodded in acknowledgement and turned away without a word, walking down the pathway, and Takashima twitched at his lack of respect and sighed. It was her job to deal with rude people like him, and so she quickly embraced the annoyance and swallowed it, walking back to the fields with a calm expression. She couldn't think about the new student right now, she had others problems to worry about right now.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!?"

Like the source of her ever-growing headache, and Takashima scowled and massaged her temples rhythmically, hoping the pain would go away. Sawamura was far too much of a handful, and she honestly wondered how his loud voice could even reach this far. The boy was clearly practiced in the etiquette of screaming his head off and disturbing the entire nation from their sleep. Takashima sighed lowly, moving into the fields as she passed the white-clad players, noting with irritation how Sawamura was squabbling with Furuya at the other end of the field about something probably unimportant.

She looked up as she moved toward the bleachers, the coach standing there with his ever-present stoic expression and folded arms, and he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, not breaking his expression.

"How did it go?" he asked simply, and Takashima sighed openly.

"He was ruder than I expected" she admitted, "And his appearance is definitely unnatural, probably the result of dye and contact lenses". The coach simply grunted and looked back to the field, and Takashima frowned.

"But…" she began, and the coach's eyes wandered back to her in mild interest.

"He noticed the weaknesses of Seidou's team instantly, specifically the pitchers" she declared, and the coach's expression didn't change.

"If even an inexperienced person noticed the weaknesses then they must be glaringly obvious" she stated bluntly, and the coach grunted.

"What was his name?" he asked curiously, and Takashima frowned as she recalled the small white-haired boy.

"Yukari Sekozawa" she stated, and the coach didn't bat an eyelid as he looked back to the players, his arms still folded.

"I see" was all he said, and Takashima mentally sighed loudly.

* * *

Yukari scanned the student notice board with devoid interest, looking through the lists of clubs and sign-up sheets available. Seidou's rules required every student to join at least one club, and since this school was so heavily emphasized on sports, most – if not all – of the clubs were sports clubs. Yukari could wonder why exactly the sign-up sheets were still here on the second week of school, but in all honesty he didn't care.

It wasn't annoying that he had joined a week late, since his parents had had issues getting the paperwork sent in time since they worked overseas, but it didn't matter, since he was here now, and if anything avoiding the annoying first day where everyone was so peppy and friendly was a rather unique bliss. But then again he would have to endure the 'new student' treatment, but hopefully that wouldn't last.

Yukari scanned the board again, noting the few clubs that actually weren't sport related. It wasn't that he disliked sports, but it seemed too much effort to join an entirely new sports club without any prior experience, and he wouldn't last long anyway, he had ridiculously low stamina when it came to sports. The options available that weren't sport related were: The Games Club, The Cooking Club and The Student Council. None of those even remotely interested him, and when Yukari read the board again he noted one sheet he had missed: Library Assistants. He glanced at the list for half a moment and then produced a pen from his pocket without changing expression in the slightest, signing his name quickly in neat handwriting on the sheet and putting his pen back. The sheet read:

'_Operates during lunch time and after classes until 6pm, please see the Librarian for further information'_

Yukari mentally nodded to himself, walking away from the student notice board without another thought. He still had another ten minutes until class, and so he decided he'd go early and wait around, that seemed like the best option. He'd already memorized his schedule, and so he knew he had English first in room 22, which was on the ground floor. Yukari moved through the corridor casually, hands in his pockets as he scanned the world outside through the large windows with disinterested hued green eyes. Outside he could see the track team running laps on the field, probably doing cool down exercises before they disbanded for classes.

Seidou had a very unique system because of the fact nearly all the students lived on campus. Students normally woke up at 7am for sports clubs until 9am, and then classes began until lunch at 12pm, finished at 1pm, and then classes continued until 5pm, afterward sports clubs began again until 7pm, and then the students were free to do as they please until curfew at 11pm. All in all, it was an unusual system, but it worked, and produced talented sportsmen, but Yukari couldn't care less about the system.

He quickly looked up and noted the door with number 22 on it, and he simply slid it open, noting the man at his desk already wearing a suit, and the man looked up in acknowledgement.

"You must be the late student" he said simply, and Yukari nodded in response.

"I am Fukube-sensei, your English teacher" he greeted, and Yukari nodded again.

"Yukari Sekozawa" he returned plainly, and the man nodded.

"Good to meet you, Yukari-kun. Please take a seat, since classes will start soon" he said, and Yukari cocked his head at the seats in the classroom and simply nodded.

"There's an available seat at the end of the second row by the wall" the man advised, and Yukari simply moved to the second row and down the desks, pulling up the available seat and sitting down without much thought. The man stood up and quickly produced a text book from his desk, moving towards him and handing it to him, and he nodded in acknowledgement and scanned the cover before losing interest and dropping it on the desk. English wasn't exactly a difficult subject, and he could get a good grade in it, but he still had zero interest in the subject despite how important it was in the real world.

After a few minutes the bell rang, and almost immediately students flocked into the room, some noticing him and eying him with mixed interest and uncertainty, but Yukari didn't return any glances and just stared at nothing until class began. No one paid that much attention to him, and so he continued to wait for the class to begin, and eventually everyone settled.

"Class, we have a new student who joined a week late" the teacher announced, and Yukari supressed a groan in annoyance.

"Please stand up and introduce yourself" the teacher called, and Yukari did as he was ordered, moving to the front of the classroom slowly in disinterest and facing the students who looked at him with mixed expressions.

"Yukari Sekozawa" he said simply, and the teacher paused before opening his mouth to speak.

"Any questions for Yukari-kun?" he asked, and almost immediately several hands shot up, and the teacher selected one.

"Is your hair dyed?" the student asked. Yukari mentally sighed while keeping his disinterested look as he once again heard that annoying question.

"No, my hair colour is natural" he said bluntly, and the student looked confused before more hands shot up, and the teacher selected another student.

"How can your hair colour be natural? It's white like an old man" the student stated.

"It just is" Yukari returned without a pause, and the student eyed him like he was lying, but Yukari wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Any questions _not_ about Yukari-kun's hair?" the teacher asked pointedly, and this time only one hand shot up.

"Which club are you part of?" the student asked.

"Assisstant Librarian" Yukari returned without blinking, and the students in the room shared similar looks of confusion.

"Why didn't you join a sports club?" the student asked again.

"I have no interest in sports" Yukari deadpanned, "I joined Seidou because it has dorms and it's in the area"

"That's enough questions" the teacher said simply, and Yukari nodded and moved back to his seat without hesitation, his disinterested look not shifting at all.

The teacher then stood up and began his lesson on English vocabulary, and Yukari simply watched, not bothering to take notes.

* * *

Kataoka Tesshin watched stoically with his arms folded in place as his regulars ran laps and laps of the field, critically watching for those falling behind. It had been one week since the term began, and since then they acquired the new regulars of Furuya, Sawamura and Kominato, all of which were slacking behind slightly, but he had expected such things from new players. That did not mean, however, that they were allowed to fall behind for long, and they would be expected to play on equal level to the rest of the team soon.

Kataoka scanned the field sharply, his eyes scanning over all of the players, and eventually his eyes landed on something that piqued his interest. Sitting in the branches of the tree at the corner of the field was a small kid with white hair, his legs dangling from the tree uncaringly as he too watched the team, and Kataoka paused for a moment. Takashima had said something about an unnatural-appearing new student this morning, and judging by his hair colour Kataoka could definitely say it was him. He glanced at the new student for another moment before turning back to his team as they finished their last lap. They all stopped in front of him, some leaning on their knees and others standing straight, all breathing heavily and sweating, much to his satisfaction.

"Neh, Coach, who's that kid watching us?" Ryousuke asked first, and Kataoka noted how the team's faces melted into similar confusion.

"Heh? What do you mean, Kominato?" Jun asked curiously, and instead of answering Ryousuke turned and pointed, and the entire team of 20 players turned to the direction and noticed the white-haired kid in the tree.

"Who's that?" Kuramochi asked out loud.

"No idea" Ryousuke replied, "He's been watching us since the start of practice, but he has our uniform, so he can't be a spy"

"That's enough" the coach stated bluntly, and the whole team turned back to him in an instant.

"Practice is over, stretch and get some sleep" he ordered.

"Yes sir!" the team chorused, and then quickly disbanded and went off in their own directions, and Kataoka noted with interest how the white-haired boy in the tree dropped from the branches and walked off.

* * *

The doors of the hospital slid open, and Yukari walked in uncaringly, taking in the usual sterile white walls and ceiling, with a few posters and chairs, barebones and simple. He moved straight to the reception desk as the familiar woman looked up. Seidou wasn't far from his home, so Yukari never had to change his location for his daily check-up, and so the staff knew him well.

"Yukari-kun, you're early" the receptionist noted.

"I don't do after-school activities anymore" Yukari said simply, and the woman nodded.

"Go ahead, Seishiro-kun should be in the main lounge upstairs" she advised, and Yukari nodded without hesitation, moving towards the elevator near the desk and pressing the button. The doors opened instantly, and Yukari stepped in and pressed the button for the sixth floor where the terminally ill patients lived. The elevator moved quickly, and there was a quick ping as the doors opened, and Yukari stepped into the sterile white corridors, turning right towards and large door and pushing it open, moving into a huge room with large windows at one side, filled with people of all ages who lived in the hospital because of their illnesses.

"Sekozawa!" one man cried, and Yukari looked up to the familiar presence of Seishiro, an old man in his sixties sat on a sofa by the wall with a shogi board in front of him on the coffee table. Seishiro was the oldest resident in the hospital, one Yukari met years ago, with barely any white hair left on his head, deep green eyes, many wrinkles which he referred to as 'smile lines', and small thin lips. Yukari approached the man and nodded to him, sitting down on the sofa opposite.

"You're early, Sekozawa" he noted, and Yukari nodded.

"I don't have activities after school anymore, so I have more time" he stated simply, and the old man smiled.

"If you have more time, how about a game?" he asked coyly, gesturing to the shogi board, and Yukari simply nodded. It was clear the old man had prepared for his visit, since the board had already been set up, but Yukari said nothing as he moved the first piece.

"How are your lungs, Seishiro-kun?" he asked, and the man smiled.

"Fine as always" he replied dismissively, "The doctors say I'm not improving, but I'm not getting worse either"

Seishiro moved his piece on the board, and Yukari kept his face disinterested despite his words. It was clear that Seishiro didn't have long left because of his illness, and the fact he didn't bother to include it meant he had already accepted it. In other words, he'd given up fighting.

"I see" Yukari said, moving his own piece.

"What about you? How's your heart?" Seishiro asked with a curious smile, and Yukari met it with his bored look.

"Fine" he replied, "I haven't had an attack recently, and I've kept my heart rate to a minimum"

"That's good" Seishiro replied good-naturedly, moving his own piece, "You young people should live your life to the fullest"

Despite how calm and happy his words were, and how they didn't at all mean Yukari was living a half-hearted life, the words still grated on him.

"Have you had visitors recently?" Yukari asked, moving his own piece, and Seishiro shook his head.

"Haven't had anyone for months now" he replied with a grimace as he moved another piece, "Family's pretty much accepted I'm going to die, and they don't see the need to talk to me anymore"

Yukari picked up another piece, holding it tighter than usual as he placed it on the board.

"I see" he replied with his bored tone.

"And what about you, Sekozawa?" the man asked with a smile, "How's your family?"

"Scattered" Yukari replied bluntly, "My parents said they'd be back from France next month on paid leave, but then they have to go back after a few days"

"And how's school?" he asked next, moving his next piece, "You said you were starting today, right?"

"That's right" Yukari replied flatly, moving another piece, "I signed up for library duty, and watched the baseball club play for a while, but other than that it was boring". Seishiro chuckled as he moved his next piece, and Yukari half-glanced up at him with his trademark expression.

"You should learn to live a more exciting life. You can't play sports, but that doesn't mean you can be so bleak about everything" the man declared, and Yukari almost rolled his eyes. How was it that a man in his late sixties with a life-threatening lung condition who'd lived in hospital most of his life could speak so much about living life to the fullest?

"Why should I? There's nothing interesting in high school" Yukari stated as he picked up his newest piece, and the man chuckled again.

"You just haven't found what excites you" Seishiro declared.

Yukari simply nodded diligently, not commenting.

"So how are your lungs doing?" Seishiro asked calmly, and Yukari nodded lazily.

"Average" he replied, "The doctors aren't concerned, and as long as I keep my heart rate down I won't have any problems"

"I see" the man replied with a smile, placing his piece on the board.

"Seishiro-kun" Yukari said, and the man looked up curiously.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Your birthday is soon. Is anyone visiting you?" Yukari asked, placing a piece on the board, and the man smiled widely at his comment.

"No, but I'm sure you will, Sekozawa" he said, and despite his happy tone the words cut at Yukari.

"I'll be sure to bring you something" Yukari replied, and the man chuckled, picking up a new piece and placing it on the board.

"I win" he declared, and in a rare form of irritation and comfort with the old man, Yukari visibly frowned at the board.

* * *

Yukari entered the cafeteria slowly, looking around and noting the huge amount of people in the room, all eating the exact same thing – rice, salmon and miso soup. A good diet for sportsmen, and so Yukari simply shrugged and scanned for any empty tables, and noticed one in the corner, and so he moved quickly and sat down with his own dinner that he had bought off-campus, since he had special permission from the chairman to leave when he wanted to.

His dinner was a favourite of his, firecracker rice from the shop down the road, since they always added extra spice to their foods, and so Yukari simply picked up the chopsticks and ate slowly.

Immediately he noted the sound of hushed whispers, and Yukari half-glanced up at the people around him and noticed quite a few people were staring, but he ignored it and glanced back down at his food. Then there was the sound of a chair dragging against the ground, and a shadow suddenly loomed over him, and Yukari looked up in acknowledgement to come face-to-face with a tall guy with brown-ginger hair, sharp eyes and a weird-looking goatee.

"Oi, aren't you the one who was watching our practice?" he asked angrily, and Yukari matched his annoyed stare with his disinterested expression.

"That's right" he replied monotonously.

"You're not a member of the baseball team" he declared.

"That's right" Yukari simply repeated.

"Then why are you eating with us?" he asked in annoyance, and Yukari simply looked down at his food. Normally the baseball team ate later than everyone else in the dorm cafeteria because of their later practice, so it was a valid question.

"Because I have my own things to do, meaning I eat later as well" Yukari replied, taking a bite out of his food without glancing at the goatee guy. There were the footsteps of another person, and Yukari looked up again as a smaller guy with pink hair placed his hand on the goatee guy's shoulder.

"Calm down, Jun. You should leave him alone" he stated, and Yukari glanced at the goatee guy and mentally made a note of the name 'Jun'. Jun made a sort of grunting noise, and then simply glared at Yukari instead of making some sort of verbal response, and the pink-haired guy leaned forward in interest.

"Who are you?" he asked curiously, "I've never seen anyone with white hair before"

"Your hair is pink" Yukari returned without so much as blinking, and the pink-haired guy smirked while Jun twitched in annoyance.

"That's right" the pink-haired guy responded, "What's your name?"

"Yukari Sekozawa" Yukari replied simply, and the pink-haired guy smiled slightly wider.

"Nice to meet you, Yukari-kun. I'm Kominato Ryousuke" he introduced, and Yukari simply looked back to his food, popping a bundle of rice in his mouth in disinterest.

"So why were you watching our practice?" he asked, and Yukari noted how the room was suddenly deathly silent, and he simply looked up bored to Kominato.

"I was bored" Yukari replied bluntly, but the smirk on Kominato's face didn't change.

"Is that so?" he asked curiously, "And what do you think of our team?"

"Your batters are good, your fielders are average and your pitchers are awful" Yukari stated simply. Kominato's face twitched, and suddenly Yukari could feel the glares of everyone in the room on his head, but he simply took a bite of his rice like nothing important was happening. Suddenly another chair grinded on the floor, and in an instant Yukari's shirt was grabbed and he was slammed against a wall, coming face to face with a very angry looking almost-bald guy, whom he recognized as one of the pitchers.

"Tanba-san!" someone called out, but the pitcher ignored them.

"You think my pitching is awful?" he asked lowly, his voice laced with anger and malice.

"I was more referring to the other pitchers" Yukari explained uncaringly, "Though you try too hard to not allow the other two pitchers to overtake you and your curveball could be better". Tanba's eyes flared with anger, and he shoved Yukari slightly further up the wall.

"What do you know? You're just a kid" he spat acidly.

"I'm a year younger than you" Yukari said simply, and Tanba grimaced in a mix of rage and restraint.

"Bastard. You think you can just come in here and insult us?" he asked, tightening his grip on Yukari's shirt.

"Yes" Yukari replied without pause.

The effect was immediate. Tanba drew back his curled fist quickly and immediately shot his fist forward to aim for Yukari's face, and Yukari simply watched unconcerned.

A hand appeared on Tanba's shoulder, and almost immediately he stopped, turning to a boy about Yukari's height with tanned skin and golden eyes.

"Captain!" Tanba exclaimed.

"Put him down, Tanba" the apparent captain ordered, and Tanba grimaced, and Yukari could see the hesitation in his eyes, before he reluctantly put him down and scowled deeply as he stormed away, and Yukari simply watched his back and then made eye contact with the golden eyed boy, the deathly silence still lasting in the room.

"Why are you eating with us?" the captain asked first, and Yukari kept his uncaring gaze on him.

"I'm not" Yukari replied, "I just have things to do which means I eat later"

"And what are those things?" the captain asked pointedly.

"None of your business" Yukari replied immediately, and there was slight gasps and hushed mutters in the background as the captain's eyes narrowed.

"Then I would appreciate it if you did not insult us" he stated.

"You're the ones who asked for my opinion" Yukari returned without pause, and the captain's face twitched slightly.

"Perhaps you should be more considerate for others who work hard" the captain suggested, and Yukari almost snorted at the idea.

"Your team don't look that hard-working to me" Yukari commented out loud, and he could feel the stares on him shift into glares instantly.

"You speak from experience" the captain stated, his eyes flaring with anger, and Yukari simply returned the gaze with his blank stare.

"I used to play baseball, I don't anymore" Yukari said simply, and the captain's mouth formed a hard line in annoyance.

"Well you cannot insult us if you do not play baseball yourself" the captain declared, and Yukari almost snorted at the suggestion.

"I can do as I please" he returned bluntly, and the captain's eyes narrowed further, the silence in the room persisting as the current occupants watched the exchange like an audience.

"Is that so?" he asked.

"Yes, that is so" Yukari returned, and invisible lightning bolts arced and crashed between them as they engaged in a staring contest, Yukari's uncaring gaze against the captain's piercing glare, but for all its worth, and the fact the entire room looked like he had committed sacrilege, Yukari couldn't bring himself to care.

"Tetsuya Yuki" the captain said after a while.

"Yukari Sekozawa" Yukari returned, and just like that the tension in the room cut off, and the captain turned and walked away like nothing had happened, the silence persisting.

_I like him_, Yukari decided, turning back to his table and picking up his box of rice quickly and walking out of the room casually, popping rice into his mouth as he did. It would be impossible to eat in peace now, and so Yukari figured he would go back to his room and finish the rest of his food. He still had yet to meet his roommates.

* * *

"That kid" Kuramochi stated when the kid finally left the room, "Has balls"

Next to him, Miyuki chuckled in amusement, watching in delight at how Furuya and Sawamura both stared at their rice like they were trying to bore a hole through it, Haruichi watching them with concern.

"He said my pitching was awful" Furuya muttered lowly, glaring at his rice, and Miyuki could practically see the waves of anger emanating from him. Next to him Sawamura was also glaring at his food, but anger much more prominent on his features as he gnashed his teeth and balled his fists, audibly growling in annoyance.

"You should calm down, Eijun-kun" Haruichi advised, and Sawamura stood up in an instant, his chair hitting the ground.

"How can I when that guy said my pitching was bad!?" Sawamura yelled, balling a fist at Haruichi, and Haruichi held his hands up in defence with a helpless expression.

"Sawamura, others are trying to eat" Chris' quiet voice came, and instantly Sawamura turned and bowed ninety degrees.

"I'm sorry, Chris-senpai!" he declared, sitting down almost immediately, and Miyuki chuckled again.

"But seriously, did you see the look on that guy's face?" Kuramochi asked, "He didn't even care when Tanba-san had him up against the wall"

"I know" Miyuki returned with a smile, "He seems interesting". Kuramochi leaned forward slightly, and Haruichi held up his hands as he vainly attempted to calm down the two fuming pitchers.

"But how come he's eating with us now?" Kuramochi asked curiously, "We haven't seen him before"

Miyuki smiled, knowing exactly why that person hadn't eaten until now. He was the late transfer student that had been missing until now.

"Not sure" Miyuki replied, and Kuramochi frowned but continued with his food.

Eventually the team finished their food and steadily broke away, and Miyuki smiled as he stood up, moving to his dorm room quickly in excitement. He moved through the corridors quickly, finding his door and checking the placards next to the door, smiling widely when he noticed a new one next to the two that were there before.

'_Yukari Sekozawa'_

Miyuki smiled, entering the room quickly and scanning it for the white-haired kid he'd seen before, almost frowning when he couldn't find him in the small room. Then he noticed the tuft of white on one of the top bunks, and Miyuki turned to it expectantly as the white tuft stopped, and pale green eyes appeared, along with a small nose, ears and lips, and finally a rounded chin as his new roommate stared at him blankly.

"You must be Yukari Sekozawa" Miyuki stated in amusement, and the white-haired kid nodded blankly.

"Hello" was his only response.


	2. Firecracker Rice

**I know. I am aware that Jun is not Miyuki's roommate. But I have no idea who is, so let's pretend this is an AU where Jun and Miyuki are roommates.**

**I love your reviews of my first chap :) thank you for your comments.**

* * *

The shrill ring of an alarm clock sounded, and Yukari opened his eyes, not moving a millimetre from his comfortable position as he heard the low groans of his roommates as they slipped out of bed, and soon the clock silenced. Yukari had chosen the top bunk of one of the two bunk beds in the room, with no one sleeping on the bottom bunk. The top bunk of the opposite bed was taken by Miyuki, and the bottom one was taken by Yukari's other roommate.

Yukari leant up slightly, watching how Miyuki reluctantly pulled himself up and moved down the ladder of his bunk. The baseball team always practiced later than anyone else, so it wasn't surprising how tired they were. They would likely leave for sports practice, but since Yukari hadn't taken up a sports club, he didn't need to be at classes for two hours.

"Oh, Yukari" Miyuki stated, turning to him, "You don't need to get up, just go back to sleep"

It was like Miyuki had read his mind, and Yukari simply glanced at him with his blank expression, opening his mouth to form a sentence.

"I-"

Yukari was interrupted by an annoyed scoff, and he simply glanced without turning his head to his other roommate. Jun Isashiki, the goatee guy.

"Of course he didn't join any sport" he mumbled loudly, "He's weak and wouldn't last five minutes on the field"

Yukari was very tempted to make a comment about how scarily accurate that statement was, but instead he said nothing and just glanced back to Miyuki, who yawned and stretched his arms over his head nonchalantly.

"You should lighten up, Jun-san" he declared, his voice strained as he stretched his arms, and Jun snorted at the idea.

"I'm not going to lighten up for this asshole!" he exclaimed, pointing at Yukari for emphasis, and Yukari just returned it with his disinterested expression. He still hadn't moved from his position in his bed, and he was rather comfortable right now.

"Well, whatever" Miyuki said simply with a happy voice, "We have to get ready for practice". Jun scowled but nodded at him, pulling himself up from his own bed, and both of them left the room quickly. They would likely go to the communal bathhouse first, and then come back and get dressed, go down for breakfast and then go to practice.

Yukari watched the door as it closed, and glanced around the room, assuring he was alone before reaching under his pillow and producing the black leather-bound book he'd kept under there. Yukari would have brought his regular journal, but it was getting rather full, and so he had decided to bring a second journal to record his time at Seidou, since being at a dorm school brought all sorts of interesting changes. He opened the book, unclipping the pen he'd attached to the leather cover and turning to the first page.

_This journal is the start of my second year at Seidou, and simply for convenience I decided to record my high school years in a new journal. This will be a brief documentation of my time at Seidou._

Yukari paused.

_And to anyone who is reading this other than me: You will suffer a painful death._

Satisfied, Yukari turned the page and began writing quickly.

_My first day was rather odd. Due to the fact my parents work overseas the transfer papers were sent in late and so I joined Seidou a week late. My roommates are one overly-energetic and frankly annoying Miyuki Kazuya, a Pisces, and the apparent ace catcher of the baseball team, and Jun Isashiki, whom I could tell was a Leo by glancing at him, a loud and overly-aggressive guy with a goatee at the age of seventeen, a talented batsman in the batting line-up of the baseball team._

_How convenient, that my two roommates are both talented baseball players. It's like God is sending me a message. Not like I can do anything about it._

_The day at first was boring. Classes were average, and I spent more time answering questions about my hair than actually learning. I ate lunch on the roof of the dorms alone, which I quickly discovered have a good view of the baseball field._

_I don't know why I expected otherwise, I should've predicted this, with Seidou being so heavily emphasized on sports. But instead of joining a sports club I became an assistant to the Librarian, for some change. Maybe having the quieter atmosphere and the library and books would be a change for the better, but we shall see._

_I later decided to watch the baseball club, because I had nothing to do before I had to visit the hospital. Though it irritates me how the sport is constantly all around me, there was nothing else to do, and so it was simply to fill time. The players are good, but there are obvious weaknesses in their play that, if I was in control, would have either fixed or removed the players bringing down the rest of the team._

_I visited the hospital later that day, since Seidou isn't far from home at all, so I can still go for my daily check-ups. Seishiro-kun seems pleased that I arrive earlier than usual due to my lack of after-school activities, and I'm sure Kudara-kun will hunt me down sooner or later because of it. I wouldn't be surprised if she skipped her therapy just to see me._

_Seishiro-kun's birthday is coming up soon. His sign is Aquarius, and so I was thinking of finding an item that relates to his sign. Then again I have exhausted most possibilities in previous years, despite that I have only known him for three years. Though Aquarius tends to be very creative, and I know of Seishiro-kun's talent for drawing. Possibly an artist set of pencils and a drawing pad? I must remember to think about this later._

Yukari paused again.

_Also, I happened to meet the baseball team under peculiar circumstances – again, how convenient – when I entered the cafeteria. Because of my daily check-ups, I come back to the dorms later than usual, meaning I eat later, and because fate is cruel, the baseball team happens to have late practice, meaning we eat at the same time. I was threated quite a lot because of the fact I had watched their baseball practice earlier, and I even met someone with pink hair, making me look normal by comparison. Their captain is interesting however, since he obviously commands power with his presence alone, meaning he is more of a figure of respect than an actual leader, since I did not once see him lead the team during practice. Meaning he is simply the strongest player who influences the team, and not a real captain, but I suppose it doesn't matter since Seidou's team has two coaches and four managers._

Yukari shut the book, hooking the pen on the edge of the cover and placing it back under his pillow before sitting up. He supposed he might as well wake up now, maybe he could watch the baseball team practice again. It wasn't like he had anything else to do.

* * *

There he was again. The exact same white-haired kid in the exact same tree.

Chris Yuu Takigawa restrained a sigh as he noted how Sawamura wasn't even looking at him anymore, but instead glaring openly with gnashed teeth at the boy, and Chris wasn't surprised. Sawamura did not take it lightly when someone insulted him, his baseball skills especially, and it was clear that no progress would be made if Sawamura continued glaring.

"Sawamura" he said simply, and like some sort of spell had been broken Sawamura instantly turned towards him and bowed ninety degrees.

"I'm sorry, Chris-senpai!" he exclaimed loudly, and Chris supressed a sigh.

"Go run some laps, you need to cool down" he ordered calmly, and Sawamura eyes flickered in annoyance, but he did not hesitate to nod.

"Of course, Chris-senpai" he replied obediently, taking off immediately, and Chris' eyes wandered back to the white-haired kid in the tree. He noted with interest how several other players were watching him in annoyance, Jun in particular, and it was clear how much the kid was disrupting practice. Of course he remembered the boy, Yukari Sekozawa, who had openly challenged the captain and entire team in the cafeteria. Chris oversaw the entire team's performance, and so he knew everyone inside and out, and he had never once seen someone talk back to Tetsuya, not even Jun or Ryousuke.

It was simply not done at Seidou, but then again this kid wasn't part of the team, despite his apparent previous experience, and more than anything it made Chris curious. Why was it that this boy that saw so many flaws in the team and with past experience had not joined himself?

With that question in mind, Chris strode to the tree without hesitation, noting as he got closer how the white-haired boy was holding a box in his hand, and from it he withdrew a stick of pocky, taking a quick bite out of it without moving his vision from the field.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked simply from the base of the tree, looking up at the boy, and the boy's eyes glanced down at him for a moment, his expression bored, before they flickered back up to the field.

"Watching" was his blunt response.

"And why are you watching us?" Chris asked.

"I don't have anything else to do" the boy replied, biting his pocky stick, and Chris supressed another sigh.

"You're distracting the team" Chris said bluntly, and the boy didn't even glance at him.

"Then they're clearly not focusing" the boy returned equally blunt, "You're the caretaker of this team, make them run laps if they're so unfocused". Chris raised an eyebrow curiously.

"'Caretaker?'" he echoed.

"Personal trainer then" the boy amended, "Manager, Assistant Coach, whatever you want to be, you're the one who looks over the team and manages their training". This time Chris frowned, watching the white-haired boy curiously.

"And how do you know that?" he asked curiously, and the boy's eyes flickered back down to him, and he took a bite of his pocky stick, chewing mechanically.

"It's obvious" he stated bluntly, "You're the only one with enough patience on the whole team to talk to that idiot, so if it's not you then Seidou has no chance"

Chris didn't need to ask to know who he was referring to, and he couldn't supress the sigh that passed his lips.

"You have impressive insight" Chris said after a while, but the boy wasn't looking at him anymore, watching the fields with that same blank expression as he finished his pocky stick with a slight crunch. Chris just watched the boy with his own passive expression.

"Why do you watch our team practice, instead of a different team?" Chris asked, and the boy produced another pocky stick from his box.

"Baseball has always been interesting" the boy answered, "No other sport held any sort of importance to me"

"Then why not join the team?" Chris asked pointedly, and the boy took a bite of his new pocky stick.

"I'm not strong enough" he answered, and Chris blinked in surprise.

"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously, but still the boy did not turn to him as he watched the fields.

"I've never had good stamina" he responded, "I wouldn't last five minutes on the field". Chris narrowed his eyes in thought at the boy in the tree as he took another bite of his pocky.

"You said you had experience in baseball before" Chris stated in confusion, and the boy's eyes flickered back down to him again.

"That's right" he stated, and Chris' eyes narrowed further. This conversation was clearly getting nowhere.

"Oi, what are you doing talking to Chris-senpai!?"

In an instant Sawamura appeared, openly glaring at the boy in the tree with hatred, and Chris turned to him.

"Sawamura, calm down" he ordered calmly, and Sawamura whirled to him.

"How can I with this idiot distracting us!?" he demanded loudly, and Chris kept his calm mask on.

"Shut up, Sawamura"

Sawamura instantly whirled back to the boy, craning his head to make eye-contact with him from the tree.

"Oi, no one's asking you! And don't call me that!" he shouted, and Chris felt a headache come on.

"Eijun" the boy said simply, his expression still disinterested, and Sawamura's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Not that either! I don't know you!" he boomed.

"Sawamura then" the boy stated bluntly, and Chris could practically see the steam rolling from his ears.

"How do you know Sawamura's name?" Chris asked curiously, ignoring Sawamura entirely, and the boy ignored them both and took a bite of his pocky stick.

"The entire school talks about the loud-mouth idiot pitcher on the baseball team, even I've heard of him, and I've only been here a day" he stated, and Sawamura almost exploded in anger.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"Sawamura" came a deep voice, and Chris and Sawamura both turned in surprise to find the coach standing behind them, his arms folded stoically and his usual poker face on.

"Coach!" Sawamura exclaimed, "This idiot-"

"You're distracting the players with your yelling" the coach cut in, "Go and run some more laps to cool off"

"But coach!" Sawamura protested instantly, but the coach's gaze held and Sawamura quickly folded, grimacing in reluctance before taking off, and Chris openly sighed again, the boy simply took another bite of his stick, finishing the second one.

"You" the coach stated, turning to the boy in the tree, "You're Yukari Sekozawa, correct?"

"That's right" Yukari returned with his disinterested expression.

"Leave" the coach ordered, and even Chris was surprised by his bluntness.

"No" Yukari deadpanned, and Chris' eyes widened.

Did he just talk back to the coach? No one had ever done that, not even Tetsuya.

"And why not?" the coach asked bluntly, his voice portraying nothing.

"Because I don't want to" Yukari returned equally blunt. The coach paused for a moment, and Chris could practically see the intensity of their matching stares.

"I can have you banned from the baseball fields if you prefer" the coach offered.

"That's fine" Yukari returned uncaringly, "Go to the headmaster and report me for sitting in a tree"

The coach paused.

"You're distracting our players" he declared after a while.

"That's their fault for not focusing" Yukari returned.

The coach frowned deeper, and Chris just watched the scene incredulously.

"If I see you near the baseball fields tomorrow I will make sure you are banned from the fields" the coach finally declared.

"Fine" Yukari returned without hesitation, and the coach grunted and turned away without another word.

* * *

Yukari bit into his pocky stick with a satisfying crunch, enjoying the sweet taste of thin chocolate, strawberry and wafer. Since he had permission to leave whenever he wanted – provided he went to all his classes – Yukari had gone down the road to the candy store and bought some strawberry pocky after breakfast. It was a nice snack, and Yukari liked the flavour, though his favourite foods were still spicy things, but pocky was more convenient.

The baseball team were running their final laps before practice ended, and Yukari decided now would be the time to leave, and so he pushed himself off the tree simply, landing gracefully on his feet and walking away. Jun would likely yell at him later for the whole thing, but Yukari didn't really care. Miyuki on the other hand would probably smile about it, since he likely took amusement in the annoyance and suffering of others. Pisces tended to be like that.

Yukari finished his pocky stick, putting the box into his trouser pocket for later snacking, noting his classroom was around the corner. With no club activities in the morning, he would likely go to his first classes earlier, but it didn't bother him, and he had time to fill by watching the baseball team. The threats of the coach made no difference to him, since it was unlikely that the man could justify banning him for watching the players. If the players really had that much of an issue being watched they clearly wouldn't play well in the big stadiums of the Nationals, and so Yukari concluded that they were either being overdramatic, or Seidou was just a really weak team. Probably the latter, judging by what he had seen.

While he had to admit, Tetsuya, Kominato and Jun all had good forms in batting, and their hits were all clean and powerful, they seemed to be the only decent players. There were others who had caught Yukari's eye whose names he did not know, but Tanba was one of them. His curveball seemed faster than usual, and the angle was wider, meaning he was probably putting more effort behind it. Yukari had experience with these kinds of people, and so he concluded that he was throwing sharper because of Yukari's earlier insult to him. That was probably a good thing, but if Tanba only threw well when insulted he likely wouldn't last.

There was that other pitcher as well, the one with the fastball. While Yukari had to admit it was fast, it could be faster, and he clearly had no coordination at all with the team by how he threw. He threw relentlessly, focusing entirely on the glove and not on the team around him.

Seidou seemed to be full of good players, but most of them were too focused on developing themselves to use teamwork, and those who did were below average in terms of talent.

Yukari opened the door of the classroom, stepping in and noting that there was no one else there. The teacher hadn't arrived either, and so he simply moved to his seat and sat down, taking his books from his bag and began reading. Yukari still had to catch up on the work he had missed by joining a week late, but it didn't matter, he could easily catch up on a week's work, and most of it was basic since it was only the start of the year.

Yukari flipped through the math textbook with his trademark bored expression, distantly wondering what the baseball team were thinking. It wasn't that he cared, but rather the fact that they were staring at him so much he had probably generated a negative impression on them, but then again he had already done that in the cafeteria yesterday.

Thinking of that made Yukari think of Tetsuya. In all respects, Tetsuya's batting form was perfect, and Yukari could find no wrong in it. But the problem with his form was that it was _too_ perfect, and every single one of his swings was exactly the same in angle and strength. If he played against a team with a pitcher that varied his pitches, Tetsuya would be forced to change his perfect form in order to adapt, and that would break down his perfect swing. Against heavy balls and fast balls Tetsuya would play well, but against fork balls and curve balls he would likely break. How ironic that the captain of the team would have the most fatal weakness of anyone in the team.

Then again, there was that idiot pitcher Sawamura, who couldn't do anything properly in baseball. Even his throw was all wrong, and he hadn't the slightest clue how to control it, and when Yukari saw the smallest movements of his fingers when he threw that altered the course of the ball it irritated him beneath his bored mask. How was it that a pitcher with such an abnormal and useful pitch had no idea how it worked and was the most useless player on the team?

Yukari mentally sighed, turning the page of his text book and scanning the equations on the page. Math was simple for him, as were most subjects, and so he didn't need to think to understand what was on the page, it came naturally to him.

Yukari heard a shrill cackle, and he looked up to the door curiously, hearing the sounds of footsteps. A moment later the door slid open, and Miyuki stepped into the room in his uniform and sports glasses. Yukari mentally groaned at the realisation, that Miyuki was in fact in his math class. Miyuki was followed by someone he recognized from the baseball team. He had weird spiky brown hair and a creepy grin, hazel eyes and a small nose. The person stopped behind Miyuki, and the two blinked at him in unison.

"Yo, Yukari" Miyuki said first with a wide smile, and the person behind him turned to him quickly.

"Miyuki, you know this guy?" he asked curiously, and Miyuki smiled wider.

"He's my roommate" Miyuki answered, and the person had an expression of disbelief, turning back to Yukari.

"You were watching our practice, weren't you?" he asked, and Yukari didn't move a millimetre.

"That's right" he replied, and to his masked surprise the person cackled.

"You should have seen the look on Jun-senpai's face! No wonder he was so pissed! You're his roommate!" he exclaimed, and Yukari watched the two of them blankly. The person smiled wider, moving from the doorway with Miyuki and sitting down next to Yukari. Yukari glanced at him with a blank expression, and the person held his hand out in greeting.

"Kuramochi Youichi" he introduced, and Yukari stared at the hand but did not shake it.

"Yukari Sekozawa" he replied bluntly, and Kuramochi seemed to get the message and put his hand down, but his smile didn't falter.

"Let's do well together, neighbour" he said courteously, but Yukari ignored him and glanced down at his text book. It seemed the baseball team were slowly wedging themselves into his life whether he liked it or not, granted he did watch them practice, but Yukari couldn't think of anything else interesting to do.

At that moment the bell rang, and almost instantly people began pouring in, the teacher arriving amongst them and setting his things down. Kuramochi leaned towards Yukari, who had not even glanced up from his textbook.

"Watch out, Tachibana-sensei will give you a tough equation" he advised, and Yukari's eyes drifted up to Kuramochi is blank curiosity.

"Alright, settle down" the teacher called, and immediately the class silenced. Yukari closed his math textbook and glanced up, noting how the teacher was watching him with a rather amused smirk.

"It seems we have a late student with us" he declared, "Would said student like to introduce themselves?". Yukari mentally sighed, pushing himself up from the seat and walking to the front of the class and turning to them, staring at them all with his bored expression.

"Yukari Sekozawa" he said simply, and there were sudden murmurs from the room.

"Any questions?" the teacher asked, and almost instantly Kuramochi's hand shot up. Yukari watched with masked curiosity as Kuramochi stood up with a wide grin.

"I heard that you used to play baseball" he stated, and Yukari mentally frowned.

"That's right" he replied, and there was a louder murmur in the class.

"Are you gonna join the baseball team?" he asked with a wide grin.

"I'm not interested in playing baseball anymore" Yukari replied, and Kuramochi's grin evaporated.

"Any more questions?" the teacher asked, and another student put up their hand and stood up.

"Why did you bleach your hair?" they asked.

Yukari restrained a twitch, barely.

"My hair colour is natural" Yukari returned bluntly, and the student looked like they didn't believe him.

"That's enough" the teacher stated, turning to Yukari with a grin he decided he didn't like, "And for the new student he gets the first equation to solve this class". There were various sniggers around the classroom, and the teacher moved to the board with a smug grin and wrote out a neat equation on the board. He then handed the pen to Yukari, his smug grin still present, and the sniggering grew louder.

"Have fun" he stated, and the sniggering grew even further. Yukari simply turned to the board and scanned it. The equation covered what Yukari had read through only a few minutes ago in the text book, but it seemed more advanced than usual. Not that it mattered.

Yukari simply wrote '2' on the board, and then turned back to the teacher, who just blinked at him.

"That's it? Two?" he asked, and Yukari nodded.

"The equation is asking for x, and x equals 2" he replied with his bored tone, and the teacher scanned him critically before shaking his head.

"You can't know this already, you joined yesterday" he stated, and Yukari kept his poker face on despite his growing annoyance.

"I read through the text book I was given until the page that we have not yet covered" Yukari replied, and the teacher still didn't look like he believed him.

"You learnt a week's worth of work in one day?" he asked incredulously, and Yukari nodded.

"That's right" he replied simply, and the teacher grunted.

"And how did you know what page we were working on?" he asked, and Yukari had to wonder why this teacher was so desperate to catch him out. Maybe he was like that with everyone.

"Miyuki told me. He's my roommate" Yukari replied, and immediately there were gasps and whispers.

"Miyuki-kun is Yukari-kun's roommate!?"

"So lucky!"

"What'd I'd give to share a room with Miyuki-kun"

It was clear these girls were obsessed, and Yukari noted how Miyuki was sniggering at the back of the class.

"Enough" the teacher ordered, "Sit down, Yukari". Yukari nodded, moving back to his seat next to Kuramochi as the teacher began the lesson, and he didn't fail to miss Kuramochi's curious stare on him.

* * *

Kominato Ryousuke waited. He waited and watched the door, once in a while taking a bite of his dinner in order to appear in the norm, when really his smirk was slightly wider than usual. Normally he wouldn't be excited over such trivial things, but the way Jun had practically exploded at the mere mention, and the shrill cackle and sniggers that followed from Kuramochi and Miyuki, it was fair to say that he was definitely interesting.

And so, Ryousuke had made it his mission to make sure Yukari Sekozawa ate with them today.

Though it wasn't just their reactions, but the fact Yukari clearly had such an interest in baseball. According to Kuramochi, he apparently had no interest at all in the sport, but the fact he had been watching was enough evidence to prove otherwise. Ryousuke had hoped to talk to him during after school practice, but Yukari wasn't there, and he hadn't been watching yesterday after school either. Ryousuke didn't understand why, and he wanted to know.

Because like Kuramochi, he too wanted Yukari Sekozawa to join the baseball team, if only to spite Jun, who had developed an instant hatred of him.

But it was that and more. The fact that he had stood face-to-face with not only the captain, but the coach too, and refused their demands; Ryousuke could hardly believe it when he had learnt, and neither could anyone else.

There were so many interesting things about Yukari Sekozawa, and so Ryousuke was determined to have him on their table, whether or not Jun liked it. Ryousuke continued to watch the door, occasionally adding to conversation, and he could tell by the way Tetsuya glanced at him that he knew Ryousuke was thinking, but it didn't matter.

Eventually a patch of white appeared in the doorway, and Ryousuke smiled a millimetre wider as Yukari Sekozawa entered the room with a box in hand. Almost immediately half the conversation in the room silenced and most heads turned his way, but Yukari didn't even acknowledge them.

"Yukari!" Miyuki called, waving his arm to him with a huge grin, inviting him to their table, but Ryousuke was faster, appearing in front of Yukari in an instant and grabbing his arm.

"Come on, you're going to eat with us today" he declared sweetly, and when Yukari glanced at him but gave no reply Ryousuke began dragging him towards his table, Yukari not attempting to break free. Even from across the room Ryousuke could see Jun's disgusted scowl, but he continued on, practically shoving Yukari into the free chair in between him and Tetsuya, that he had reserved for this moment.

"Why the hell did you bring him, Ryousuke?" Jun demanded instantly, and Ryousuke smirked wider.

"He's interesting, don't you agree?" he asked, and Jun scowled deeply. Yukari didn't even acknowledge them, opening his box and began eating without a word spoken. Ryousuke sat down next to him and noted the box he was eating from.

"That's not our dinner" he noted out loud, "Where'd you get that?". Yukari's eyes flickered up to him but didn't turn from his food.

"I have permission to leave the campus any time of the day" Yukari replied simply, popping some rice into his mouth, and Ryousuke leaned forward curiously. Tetsuya was glancing at them both, eating his food without a care. Jun was mixed between scowling and gritting his teeth and did some awkward mix of the two. Chris wasn't even paying attention to the conversation, Tanba doing the same, and Kuramochi wore a similar large smirk. Masuoko had already finished his food and had left already, probably to sleep.

"How did you get permission then, Yukari-kun?" Ryousuke asked, and Yukari's eyes moved back down to his food.

"I have places to be after school" he replied bluntly, and Ryousuke leaned forward slightly further in interest.

"Ah, you mentioned that yesterday, didn't you?" he asked no one in particular, and Yukari continued eating.

"What'cha eating?" Kuramochi asked curiously.

"Firecracker rice" Yukari replied without looking up, and Kuramochi leaned forward.

"Heh? Can I try some?" he asked, and Yukari glanced up and pushed the box towards him. Kuramochi smiled, snatching a bundle of rice with his chopsticks and putting them into his mouth, and Ryousuke noted how his eyes widened the moment it touched his tongue.

"Kuramochi-kun?" Ryousuke called curiously, and Kuramochi's entire face went red, and Ryousuke could swear he was sweating.

"H.."

"Kuramochi?" Tetsuya asked, slight concern visible, and the rest of the table watched him curiously. Kuramochi's face was like a tomato, and sweating like he had just finished practice.

"_**HOT!" **_he practically screamed, bolting out of the room instantly, and the conversation in the room silenced.

"Kuramochi?" Tetsuya repeated rather stupidly, and Ryousuke turned to Yukari.

"I thought you said that was firecracker rice" he stated, and the rest of the table turned to Yukari, some glaring.

"It is" Yukari replied without looking up.

"So why is it so spicy?" Ryousuke pressed.

"The shop always adds more spice than usual" Yukari replied casually, taking eating another clump of rice, "But I don't find it spicy enough, so I usually add tabasco sauce to it"

Ryousuke's eyes opened a fraction of a millimetre, and immediately Jun was on his feet, the chair grating behind him as most of the room watched.

"What the hell!?" he demanded loudly, "You don't put tabasco sauce on firecracker rice! That's not human!"

"I quite like it" Yukari replied calmly, biting another clump of rice, and Ryousuke could see Chris and Tanba share identical looks of incredulity. Honestly he was equally surprised and horrified. Tabasco sauce was ridiculously spicy in large amounts, and he'd put that on firecracker rice?

"You must really like spicy food" Ryousuke stated more than asked, and Yukari didn't turn from his food.

"I do" was his blunt reply.

"Don't ignore me!" Jun cut in loudly, "You think you can poison our teammates like that?"

"He's the one who asked to try some" Yukari said simply, and Jun scowled so deeply Ryousuke was sure it would swallow his head. Ryousuke caught something moving, and in an instant Sawamura was stood next to Jun, gnashing his teeth in unbridled anger.

"I can't believe you poisoned Kuramochi-senpai like that!" he yelled, and Ryousuke supressed a sigh as he noted that the room was now completely silent, with the occasional hushed whisper. Would it be like this every time Yukari ate with them?

"He asked to try some" Yukari simply repeated, and an arm was thrown over Sawamura's shoulder.

"You should lighten up, Sawamura" Miyuki stated in amusement, "It was Kuramochi's fault". Sawamura seemed even more enraged by that, turning to Yukari with blazing eyes.

"That doesn't-"

Yukari cut off Sawamura words by simply shoving a bundle of rice into his huge mouth, and Sawamura's eyes widened as he swallowed reflexively, his face lighting up immediately. Ryousuke watched in amusement how he began to sweat profusely, and Miyuki unhooked his arm from Sawamura with a matching amused grin.

"_**HOT!"**_ Sawamura exclaimed loudly, practically coughing fire as he did, moving with inhuman speed and exiting the room almost immediately. There was a brief moment of silence before Miyuki began to laugh, and Yukari looked up from his rice with a bored expression.

"I like you" Miyuki stated in amusement, and Yukari didn't react to his words and continued to eat his food.

"How much tabasco did you put in that?" Jun asked, his previous anger dying down by surprise.

"A decent amount" Yukari replied calmly, "I always put this much on"

The table shared a grimace in horror and fear, all except Ryousuke and Miyuki, who were both grinning wickedly.

_He's a demon_, was the shared thought. Though to Ryousuke and Miyuki, that only made Yukari Sekozawa more interesting.

* * *

Yukari wasn't entirely sure why they were all in their room, but he supposed it didn't matter. After dinner he'd gone back to his room, Jun practically screaming down his neck the way there, Yukari skilfully ignored it and went to his bed without a word. Then for some reason the door later opened, Miyuki walking in with Tetsuya, Ryousuke, Kuramochi and some other guy who looked gigantic at his back. Immediately Kuramochi moved to the TV, producing a disk in his hand probably for the gaming console, Ryousuke moving with him. Jun laid down on the ground and demanded a foot massage of all things, Miyuki complying with an obvious grimace as he worked the muscles of Jun's foot, the larger nameless guy had fallen asleep on Miyuki's bed instantly, and Tetsuya had found a shogi board in the corner of the room and had set it up, playing against himself.

No one had even glanced at Yukari yet, who was sat on the top bunk and watching them like a hawk regarding its prey, and after a moment he simply shrugged and went back to reading his text book. He still had several subjects to catch up on, but some were easier than others.

"Miyuki, play a game with me" Tetsuya suddenly ordered, and Yukari didn't look up from his text book.

"But Tetsu-san" Miyuki protested, "I'm busy massaging Jun-san's foot"

"Miyuki, get us some juice" Kuramochi ordered immediately afterwards.

"I'll have orange soda please" Ryousuke added.

"You guys…" Miyuki continued to protest lamely.

"Oi, I didn't tell you to stop!" Jun ordered, and Miyuki silenced, probably getting back to work. Yukari ignored them, focusing on the diagrams of a plant stem described in his text book. Miyuki was being worked like a slave, but Yukari couldn't bring himself to care.

There was a long moment of silence, filled by the sounds of the TV as Kuramochi and Ryousuke played their game, and the brief sounds of wood making contact as Tetsuya moved the shogi pieces on the board.

"Miyuki, where's my juice?" Kuramochi asked after a while, and Miyuki whined.

"I can't get it while I'm massaging Jun-san" he complained. He paused, and suddenly Yukari felt like something bad was about to happen.

"Oi, Yukari, can you deal with them while I get some juice?"

There it was.

Yukari looked up from his text book, meeting Miyuki's hopeful gaze.

"Eh!?" Kuramochi exclaimed, "How long have you been there?". Yukari's eyes briefly flickered to Kuramochi.

"I've been here the whole time" he answered simply.

"So can you help?" Miyuki asked hopefully, ignoring the conversation, and Yukari glanced back to him.

"I'm not massaging Jun's feet" Yukari stated bluntly, and Jun gave a sort of cackle at the suggestion.

"Like I would let you anywhere near me" he muttered, and Yukari didn't pay him any mind as he glanced at Tetsuya, who was in deep concentration as he played himself in a game of shogi.

"Can you play shogi?" Miyuki asked next, and Yukari looked at him briefly.

"I play it often" he answered, and he didn't miss how Tetsuya's golden eyes immediately snapped up to him curiously.

"Great!" Miyuki exclaimed with a wide smile, "Please play Tetsu-san while I get some drinks" he practically begged, and by now Yukari had decided he didn't really have a choice, and he quite liked playing shogi, and so he nodded in compliance, shutting the text book quickly and climbing down from his bunk. Miyuki smiled widely and left the room without another word, and Yukari simply ignored Jun's deep scowl, moving to the shogi board and sitting on the floor in front of the board and Tetsuya, whose gaze portrayed nothing. Yukari quickly arranged his own side, Tetsuya doing the same.

"Let's have a good game" he said with a respectful bow, and Yukari looked at him with his blank expression, deciding not to answer. He moved the first piece, and the game began.

"So, Yukari-kun" Ryousuke began from the TV, and Yukari's eyes flickered up to meet the turned head of the pink-haired teen.

"I heard you used to play baseball" he declared, and Yukari mentally sighed as Tetsuya moved his first piece. Yukari glanced at the board and moved his own piece without hesitation.

"I did" Yukari answered, noting the curious look of Kuramochi, and the analytic stare of Tetsuya as he moved his own piece, opening a huge gap in his board. Yukari moved his own piece, and Tetsuya frowned deeply.

"You're good at this…" he muttered, and Yukari chose not to say that in fact he was just terrible.

"So what position did you play?" Ryousuke asked, and Yukari mentally sighed as the attention of the room was now on him.

"Center fielder and first batsman" Yukari replied bluntly, and Ryousuke cocked his head curiously as Tetsuya finally moved his own piece, to which Yukari immediately moved his own, and Tetsuya frowned deeper.

"First batsman?" he asked, "You must have been good. What changed your mind about baseball?" he asked curiously.

"Things happened" Yukari replied smoothly, not wanting to talk about his condition with anyone.

"What kind of things?" Ryousuke pried, and Yukari supressed a sigh. Tetsuya still hadn't moved his piece.

"None of your business" Yukari replied bluntly, and he could see the scowls etched onto Ryousuke's and Kuramochi's faces.

"Well" Ryousuke reasoned, "Maybe if you told us we could help you get back into baseball"

Yukari almost, _almost_ rolled his eyes. As if telling them would make a scrap of difference. Yukari said nothing, instead watching Tetsuya as he finally moved his piece, and Ryousuke said no more as Yukari moved another piece. Tetsuya watched the board with a deep frown before looking up to Yukari with respect in his eyes.

"You're really good at this" he commended, and Yukari kept his bored expression on.

"No, you're just terrible at shogi, Tetsuya" he returned bluntly, and Tetsuya's eyes narrowed.

"Terrible?" he echoed curiously, and Yukari felt like he was talking to a child.

"That's right" Yukari replied simply, and Tetsuya frowned, looking back down at the board in contemplation.

"Oi" Jun cut in behind Yukari, "Be more respectful to your senpai, brat" he practically spat.

"No" Yukari replied without turning his head towards him, and he could practically hear him seething.

"What did you say?" he asked angrily, but Yukari still didn't turn from the board.

"No" Yukari repeated, and Jun glared him down angrily, Yukari matching it with his bored expression, and suddenly the door opened.

"I'm back!" Miyuki called, suddenly appearing in the doorway, and Yukari glanced up and noted the amount of cans in his cradled arms.

"Miyuki, did you get my juice?" Kuramochi asked, and Miyuki nodded, his smile clearly strained.

"Yeah, I knew the rest of you would ask for drinks later, so I got drinks for all of you" he replied in false cheeriness.

"Cola for Jun-san" Miyuki said, handing the drink to Jun, who took it with a nod of thanks.

"Oolong tea for Tetsu-san" he continued, handing a can to Tetsu who also took it with a nod of thanks.

"Orange soda for Ryousuke"

"Thank you, Miyuki-kun"

"Juice for Kuramochi"

"Thanks, Miyuki"

"And soda for Yukari"

Yukari's eyes flickered up in dim surprise to the can Miyuki was holding in front of him, and he took it slowly without a word.

"I figured since you ate all of that rice your throat must be on fire" Miyuki explained with a wide smile, and Yukari said nothing as he cracked the can open.

"No kidding!" Kuramochi exclaimed, "That stuff is like fire! How can you even eat that?" he demanded, and Yukari took a sip of his soda, not glancing at Kuramochi.

"I quite like spicy foods" was his only reply, and he could practically feel Kuramochi's incredulous stare. His food wasn't that spicy.

A chime sounded, a familiar one, and the room shared looks of confusion as Yukari held his can in one hand and dug out his phone, pressing the button and putting it to his ear. He had a special ring tone for when his parents called.

"_Bonjour?"_

"Hello?" he asked, and he could see the groups' faces warp into confusion.

"_Bonjour Sekozawa, comment allez-vous?"_

"Hello Sekozawa, how are you?" his father asked down the phone.

"_Bon. L'ecole a été intéressant jusqu'ici"_

"Fine. School has been interesting so far" Yukari replied bluntly, sipping his soda casually.

"_C'est bien. Avez-vous fait des amis?"_

"That's good. Have you made any friends?" he asked.

"_Pas. Les gens sont plus intéressés par mes cheveux"_

"No. People are more interested in my hair" Yukari replied simply, and he could hear his father chuckle down the phone. Meanwhile the team were watching him curiously as if he was a ghost.

"_Ainsi peut-être très bientôt"_

"Well maybe sometime soon" his father declared, and Yukari paused.

"_Qu'est-ce que vous voulez parler?"_

"What did you want to speak about?" he asked bluntly.

"_Je suis blessé, Sekozawa._ _Je voulais vérifier sur mon fils"_

"I'm hurt Sekozawa. I wanted to check on my son" he replied with a hurt voice, but Yukari didn't respond, waiting, and after a moment his father sighed.

"_Nous allons rentrer à la maison plus tard que prévu"_

"We will be coming home later than planned" he admitted, and Yukari's eyebrows knotted together in a rare form of annoyance. It was clear that no one in the room missed that by how they looked increasingly curious, but Yukari didn't care.

"_Comment en retard?"_

"How late?" he asked bluntly, and his father sighed again.

"_Eh bien, il sera au moins deux mois avant que nous puissions-"_

"Well, it will be at least two months before we can-"

Yukari hung up, frowning deeply at his phone, ignoring the curious gazes of the group and putting his phone back in his pocket. He noted that Tetsuya had moved a piece, and he moved his own, his eyes flickering up to meet Tetsuya's curious ones.

"I win" he stated, but no one was listening.

"That was French, wasn't it?" Ryousuke asked curiously, and Yukari glanced at him and nodded.

"That's right" he replied bluntly, and Miyuki leant forward, Jun too surprised to remember his foot massage.

"Since when were you fluent in French, Yukari?" he asked curiously, and Yukari barely glanced at him.

"My parents work overseas in France, and so we lived there for a few years before I moved back to Japan for my education" Yukari replied, and Miyuki's eyes lit up in interest.

"That's so cool" he declared, and Yukari ignored him, setting up the board for a new game of shogi, Tetsuya doing the same.


	3. Kudara Shiomi

**I love your comments on my fic! Thank you for the love! This chapter is basically the introduction of my other OC, amongst other things**

**Also these sections from different characters' perspectives are way too short, but I was really running on fumes for this chapter.**

**Thoughts?**

* * *

If there was one thing in Japan Yukari had never adjusted to, it was public baths.

Sure, he had lived in Japan for the first few years of his life, but when his parents had struck big on the perfect job working in a nuclear power plant as senior technicians – they had met in university doing the same degree – they had moved overseas to France, and so Yukari had grown up in two different cultures, one distinctly different from the other. So after living in France for a decade, the idea of multiple people bathing at once felt absurd, and despite the fact Yukari was originally from Japan, the idea felt so arcane it was like he was in a different world.

Though technically he was on the other side of the world, but that wasn't the point.

For this distinct reason, Yukari always made sure to wake up after everyone else. There was a noticeable gap in the morning bathing schedule, since the baseball team woke up two hours earlier than everyone else for practice. Meaning Yukari waited half an hour, when Miyuki and Jun had come back, got changed and left for practice, before he himself went to the baths, the baseball team all gone. It wasn't that he was scared by the idea – though he had never bathed with someone before – but it was a new thing, and Yukari hated new things.

He mentally sighed to himself as he stepped into the room, completely empty, with steam clinging thick in the air. His bed-head hair was already drooping with the density of the steam, and Yukari assured there was no one around before he reluctantly peeled off his clothes, unused to this new concept, taking a towel – that was far too small for anyone's standards – and wrapping it around his waist, leaving little to be desired, before moving into the main baths reluctantly. The room was wide, the floors and walls tiled and with small wooden stools in front of a bucket with taps. Yukari knew the idea was to sit on the stools and fill the bucket, throwing the water on yourself after applying soap.

He sometimes really hated Japanese culture, despite the fact he was pure-blooded Japanese himself.

Yukari noted pegs on the wall, and with a barely recognizable grimace he undid the towel at his waist, hanging it on the peg and moving to the baths. He stepped into the water, noting how warm it was, and quickly submerged up to his mid-torso in the water. Yukari noted his hair was now sticking to his head with the steam, and he mentally sighed again, leaning down in the bath and submerging just below his nose. Yukari just closed his eyes and blew a sigh out of his nose, since he had an hour before anyone else would get up.

Japanese people were so weird sometimes. Yukari really missed France, and more than anything he really wished he had chosen to stay in France instead of coming back to Japan, at least he wouldn't be in a dorm school with a bunch of baseball-obsessed weirdoes right now.

Not that he could go back now, he'd already chosen, and there was no way Yukari would be able to leave and move back to France in the middle of school.

His roommates were tolerable. Miyuki was all smiles and laughs, someone Yukari could put up with in the long run. Miyuki didn't particularly annoy him, and when he asked favours he normally did kind-heartedly, and so Yukari couldn't really dislike him.

Jun however, was a different story. They'd been roommates for a three days and Yukari could definitely say he was going to hate him. It was a constant array of grumbling, shouting, demanding of foot massages – for some reason – or a mixture of all three, and in between Jun did nothing but swear, eat or read shoujo manga, which Yukari noted Jun read a lot of.

But it was nothing Yukari wasn't used to, he'd encountered plenty of Leos before, and so he knew how to keep off the worst of Jun's bad side.

And then there was the sudden slam of a door, and Yukari's eyes opened, flickering to the door of the baths. There was no one there, but he could hear loud, angry mumbling from the other side of the door, and almost immediately the door opened, revealing Sawamura with a tiny towel around his waist, and Yukari averted his eyes, mentally sighing in annoyance. Why was Sawamura here? He had hoped to bathe privately.

Sawamura didn't notice him, making louder angry mumbling sounds.

"Damn Kuramochi-senpai for not waking me up" Yukari heard amongst his ramblings, and that was all he needed to know, and there was the sound of splashing water, and Yukari's eyes flickered back as Sawamura, noting that he was throwing buckets of water over himself, his towel on the ground next to him, but Sawamura's back was facing him and Yukari couldn't see anything indecent. Sawamura threw another bucket of water on himself and began to apply soap to his body.

Oh, so you were meant to wash yourself and then bathe, not the other way around. That made sense, he supposed.

Sawamura applied more soap and then threw more water on himself from the tap, and Yukari lost interest and stared at the wall, his mind drifting off to the sound of Sawamura's angry mumblings. Sawamura being here put a dent in Yukari's plans, but not by much. He seemed in a rush, so Yukari could just wait for him to leave, and then wash himself.

There was more splashing of water, and as expected Sawamura lowered himself into the bath, giving a long sigh of relief as the warm water hit him. Yukari just watched him, with a lack of anything else to look at, but Sawamura still didn't notice him and continued his grumblings.

"Stupid Kuramochi-senpai" he muttered, "He just wants me to get kicked off the team"

Yukari just watched him, still submerged up to his nose. Sawamura was an annoying character, he knew that well, but his remarks weren't worth a statement in response.

"The coach is going to make me run extra laps, and Miyuki will laugh in my face" he muttered angrily, and Yukari had to agree with him. Miyuki would definitely do that. Sawamura sighed loudly, muttering too lowly for Yukari to understand, and eventually the muttering stopped and Sawamura deflated, sinking into the water slowly as he leant back. His eyes stared at nothing for a while, just looking around the room in bored absence, passing over Yukari as if he wasn't there.

And then Sawamura's eyes widened as his head snapped in Yukari's direction.

"GAH!" he cried out in surprise, jumping out of the water, and Yukari averted his eyes.

"You!" he exclaimed, "How long have you been there!?". Yukari lifted his head slightly, just so that his chin was above the water-level.

"I've been here the whole time" he replied flatly, not daring to look at Sawamura while he was out of the water.

"And you just said nothing?" he demanded loudly.

"Why should I?" Yukari inquired, still looking at the wall rather than Sawamura, whom had not got back into the bath yet.

"Oi, look at me when I'm talking to you!" Sawamura demanded angrily.

"Get back in the bath first" Yukari replied calmly, and Sawamura paused.

"What are you- Oh"

Sawamura seemed to take the hint, and after a moment there was the small sound of splashing water, and Yukari's eyes drifted back to Sawamura's naked torso, the rest of him thankfully hidden underneath the water.

"You could have just said so" he muttered to himself, and Yukari just watched him blankly, his trademark bored expression in place.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked in annoyance.

"I live here" Yukari replied bluntly, and Sawamura twitched.

"Then why are you up so early?" he asked in restrained annoyance.

"Why are you up so late?" Yukari returned, "Baseball practice started half an hour ago"

Sawamura's eyes widened in surprise, and Yukari could tell he was only remembering why he was here in the first place.

"Crap!" he exclaimed, bolting out of the water instantly, and Yukari was glad the splash made by Sawamura had made him close his eyes reflexively for what he would have seen. There was a slamming of the door, and then the room lapsed into silence.

Yukari mentally sighed, sliding down the seat of the bath and bringing the water level up to his nose again. He didn't really want to watch the baseball team practice, since right now he was too lazy to care. Maybe he'd get dressed later and buy some strawberry pocky from down the road.

* * *

Tetsuya Yuki watched.

Tanba was standing on the mound, shifting the ball in his hand with his fingers, looking up to him and glaring with an intensity Tetsuya was very familiar with, and in one quick motion, Tanba drew his arm back and coiled his arm over his shoulder, releasing the ball that flew towards Tetsuya's face.

But it was no problem, and the ball met the metallic bat easily, flying far away and hitting the metal mesh fence.

"Ah, another home run" he heard one player comment.

"That's our captain for ya" another added, and Tetsuya walked off the plate without a word spoken, shouldering the metallic bat as he approached the dugout. The coach was stood there with his usual stoic expression and folded arms, nodding his head once mechanically.

"Good job, Yuki" he praised, and Tetsuya nodded in return.

"Thank you, coach" he returned politely, putting the metallic bat down in the pile.

"Go run for a while, practice finishes soon" the coach advised, and Tetsuya nodded obediently, taking off his helmet and putting it down before walking off towards the fields. The second field was currently empty, other than a few running laps or swinging bats, so there wouldn't be any trouble. Tetsuya dimly remembered that they had a practice match with another school scheduled in two weeks, so he needed to be in top condition.

He crossed into the second field quickly, scanning the field as the players practiced, and felt a sense of pride. Though it technically wasn't his team, it always reassured Tetsuya that the team would be left in capable hands.

Then he noticed long black hair, and Tetsuya stopped curiously, turning to the new presence and raising an eyebrow.

It was a girl, who looked to be a third or second year in high school. She was wearing a uniform Tetsuya didn't recognize, she had long black hair that went past her shoulders, deep blue eyes and a small face. She had a curious expression, scanning the horizon – or more accurately the field – with a hand flat over her eyes to give her a better view. Tetsuya stepped forward, the girl not noticing until he was several steps in front of her.

"Who are you?" he asked bluntly, not bothering with small talk, and the girl turned to him and her eyes widened slightly, and only then did Tetsuya take notice of how tall she was. She was at least 5'10, if not bordering on 6 foot. The girl leaned forward, child-like curiosity in her eyes, but Tetsuya's gaze didn't falter.

"Wow, you're really short" she commented, and Tetsuya's eye twitched.

"Are you a member of this baseball club?" she asked curiously. Tetsuya restrained himself from saying that they were a 'team' not a 'club'.

"I'm the captain" he returned bluntly, and the girl's eyes widened further. Tetsuya swore she looked like a child.

"Do you know where I can find Seko-chan?" she asked, and Tetsuya frowned.

"Who?" he asked, and the girl straightened to her full height, and Tetsuya felt miniscule in her shadow.

"You know, Seko-chan!" she exclaimed, child-like happiness in her eyes, and Tetsuya frowned slightly.

"Heh? Who's that?" he heard a voice ask, and Tetsuya turned to see Ryousuke, Jun and Kuramochi approaching him, all sharing curious expressions.

"Captain, I didn't know you had a girlfriend" Kuramochi commented out loud, a delicious grin on his face, and Tetsuya kept on his blunt mask.

"I don't know her" Tetsuya replied bluntly, and Kuramochi's grin evaporated.

"Then who are you?" Ryousuke cut in, and Tetsuya turned back to the girl curiously, who smiled widely in response.

"Kudara Shiomi, nice to meet you" she said happily.

"Are you a spy?" Jun asked, ignoring the introduction entirely, and Kudara frowned.

"Heh? What do you mean 'a spy'?" she asked curiously, causing the rest of them to frown in turn.

"You're wearing a different uniform" Ryousuke pointed out, "And you're watching our practice". Kudara's mouth formed a little 'o' and eventually she glanced back at the field.

"Ohh I get it" she commented, and Ryousuke frowned deeper.

"So you're not a spy?" he asked, and Kudara shook her head with a wide smile.

"Nope, my school doesn't even have a baseball team" she declared.

"So why are you here?" Kuramochi cut in, and Kudara smiled wider.

"I'm looking for Seko-chan. I heard he goes here now, and since he loves baseball I came to look for him here" she declared, and the four collectively frowned.

"Who is 'Seko-chan'?" Ryousuke asked, and Kudara smiled wider.

"Seko-chan, you know, short, grumpy, obsession with sticky notes" she said, and the four frowned deeper.

"We don't know anyone on the team like that" Tetsuya declared, and Kudara turned to him and frowned.

"But then where is he? I just knew that Seko-chan would be here!" she exclaimed childishly, and Tetsuya supressed a sigh.

"If he isn't here you should come back later" he stated bluntly, and Kudara whined childishly. Everything about her seemed childish.

"Anyway, don't you have school yourself?" Jun pointed out in annoyance, and Kudara turned to him and shook her head.

"Nope, school doesn't start until 8.30" she chirped happily, causing the group to collectively frown.

"8.30" Ryousuke repeated, and Kudara nodded dumbly.

"That's right"

"Practice is almost over" Ryousuke declared, and Kudara frowned.

"What does that have to do with it?" she asked curiously.

"Practice finishes at 9" Ryousuke stated.

Kudara paused, for a moment not taking in what he had said, and then her eyes widened in horror, and instantly she produced her phone in her hand and scanned the screen.

"EHHHHHHH!?" she exclaimed in shock.

"I'm laaaaate!" she cried, and instantly she disappeared, tearing away at the ground like an Olympic runner, leaving the four dumbstruck.

"Well that was interesting" Ryousuke commented.

"She was kind of cute" Kuramochi added.

"But she acts like she's five" Jun cut in, and no one disagreed.

Tetsuya just stared for a moment, blinked, and then continued like nothing had happened.

* * *

Kuramochi hated homework. Being in a school based on sports, most of the people here were more the athletic than the academic type, and so it was standard for getting average grades and no higher. But this was Math, and Kuramochi _despised_ Math with every ounce of his being, and the teacher equally despised him for his bad grades.

Currently, he was passing out the homework sheets they'd received two days ago, and Kuramochi was dreading it. It certainly didn't help that he could hear Miyuki chucking lowly two rows behind him. Miyuki was better than him at Math, his grades were passable, but not anything amazing, simply above average. Kuramochi however, was lucky to get 50%.

The teacher moved to his desk, scowling deeply at Kuramochi as he handed the sheet to him, and Kuramochi turned it over with dread, his stomach immediately sinking.

35%

That was _awful_, and Kuramochi had actually tried with his homework this time. Granted, he did it after he came back from eating dinner and talking to Ryousuke at the same time, but still. The teacher moved to Yukari's desk next to him, handing his own sheet to him silently and moving on, and Yukari glanced at the paper without changing expression. Kuramochi leaned towards his desk.

"Oi, Yukari, what'd you get?" he asked, and Yukari's eyes flickered to him, picking up his homework sheet and holding it up for him. Kuramochi gaped.

"100%?" he asked in shock, and Yukari didn't bother responding, putting his paper back down.

"How'd you get 100%?" Kuramochi demanded, "You must have cheated"

"There was one question that was confusing" Yukari stated without glancing at him, "So I looked through the text book and found the answer"

Kuramochi just gaped further. Who looks through their text book!?

Kuramochi then heard Miyuki's trademark chuckle, and turned to him. Miyuki was grinning, and when he noticed Kuramochi he held up his homework sheet to him.

78%

_Stupid average student_, was Kuramochi's immediate thought.

"Alright" the teacher called out, moving back to his desk, "Most of you did well on the homework, but for the few who didn't" – Kuramochi flinched – "I expect the homework to be re-done and made better by tomorrow". There was a collective groan, and in that moment the bell rang, and instantly the students stood up. Kuramochi turned to Yukari immediately.

"Oi, Yukari, you got 100%, can you help me out?" he asked quickly, but Yukari barely spared a glance as he stuffed his books into his bag.

"Why should I?" he responded, and Kuramochi twitched.

"I'll buy you lunch today" Kuramochi offered, but Yukari shook his head.

"I already have my lunch" he returned calmly, and Kuramochi frowned.

"Heh? But you live in the dorms" he pointed out, and Yukari shouldered his bag, barely glancing at Kuramochi.

"I bought it when I went out for snacks this morning" Yukari responded bluntly, and Kuramochi frowned deeper.

"Heh? Why did you go out?" he asked, because he knew about Yukari's 'special permission' to leave whenever he wanted.

"I wanted some pocky, and I needed some sticky notes" Yukari responded, and before Kuramochi could open his mouth Yukari had walked off. His forehead twitched, and in that moment Miyuki laughed and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"What's got you so hot-headed?" he asked mockingly, and Kuramochi wanted to punch him.

"I thought Yukari could help me with my Math, but he doesn't care at all" he muttered, and Miyuki laughed again.

"What'd you expect? This is Yukari we're talking about" he pointed out, and Kuramochi frowned.

"You can't know him that well" he rebutted, "He's only been here three days"

"But he _is _my roommate" Miyuki returned, and Kuramochi scowled, throwing the arm off his shoulder.

"I'll ask Ryo-san" he decided, since Ryousuke was much smarter than he was.

"Well, whatever" Miyuki dismissed, folding his arms behind his head and walking out the door, and Kuramochi scowled deeper but reluctantly followed.

* * *

Library duty was quiet, and frankly that was all Yukari wanted. It was the simple process of watching over the library, putting any returned books back into their positions and maintaining quiet. He had talked with the Librarian about a time placement, and she'd found a vacant spot during lunches, a spot that no student really wanted, but Yukari took the spot in order to have a quiet lunch, and it worked very well.

Seidou's library was surprisingly old, and it had the feeling of one used often. The desks and chairs were made from dark wood that blended with the panelled wood flooring and book cases of the same material. The library was also quite large, making it easy to get lost in the sections of books, but Yukari had memorized the whole area, knowing it like the back of his hand. Currently he was eating the sandwiches he'd bought at the convenience store this morning in silence, the rest of the room in similar silence as students read books at the tables.

There was complete silence, and Yukari loved it.

And then there was the short chime of his phone, and several people looked up in annoyance at him. Yukari produced his phone, reading the contact.

Kudara Shiomi.

Yukari hung up, putting his phone back. He was in no mood to deal with Kudara's ramblings. He knew Kudara would track him down eventually, and he was sure Kudara would find him some point today, she was amazingly persistent. She'd probably be waiting at the hospital when he got there, but he supposed it didn't matter.

Plus, he was an Assistant Librarian, so he couldn't start talking to someone on the phone in the middle of duty.

Yukari finished his sandwich quickly, throwing the packaging in the trash quickly and moving towards the pile of returned books. Most of the books were under subjects, borrowed from students who needed extra help in classes, but there were also sports-oriented books and several novels. Yukari scanned the pile, confirming that most of them were sports books, several on physical training and the cardiovascular system. The people at Seidou were very dedicated to their sports, and Yukari took the pile without pause, moving immediately to the sports section, since the Library had a whole section dedicated to sports-oriented text books and manuals.

Yukari put the books back, making sure they went in order alphabetically. He really liked this club, even if it wasn't an actual club, but it was still better than running around and wearing himself out. Yukari moved down the aisle and across the room to the opposite shelf, placing the school text books back in order too.

Then there was the sound of conversation, and Yukari stopped, moving immediately through the aisles towards the sounds of the voices. One of his duties was to make sure silence ensued, and he particularly loved that part of his job. He exited the aisles, and for some reason he wasn't surprised to see Sawamura standing in the doorway, some taller blonde-haired guy with him, and immediately Yukari approached.

"Shut up" the taller one ordered, "We're in a library"

"Oi, you're talking just as loud, Kanemaru" Sawamura snapped in response, and Yukari mentally seethed in annoyance as he approached, the taller one noticing him.

"Aren't you-"

"Oi, what are you doing here?" Sawamura demanded, noticing him too.

Yukari stepped forward, grabbing Sawamura's left ear and yanking it quickly, and Sawamura let out a yelp of pain as Yukari dragged him a few feet forward towards him.

"This is a library. Shut it, Sawamura" Yukari ordered quietly, and Sawamura's face twisted into a mix of anger and pain as Yukari yanked his ear slightly higher, eliciting another small yelp.

"Let go of me" Sawamura ordered in a strangled voice, but Yukari yanked his ear even higher, forcing Sawamura to stand on his tiptoes as Yukari stared him down.

"There is no talking in the library" he said, blunt and calm, and Sawamura ground his teeth in anger and pain, but said nothing, and eventually Yukari let go, and Sawamura stumbled back several steps. Yukari glanced at one table, and the two girls sitting there had a satisfied smirk as they turned back to their books. Sawamura rubbed his ear with a pained expression, and the tall blonde one looked approving of him.

"Do you know where the subject text books are?" the tall one asked quietly, "This idiot is failing". Sawamura turned and opened his mouth to speak, but a quick glance from Yukari silenced him.

"They're at the back of the room, go down the far left aisle" Yukari replied equally quiet, and the tall one nodded, grabbing Sawamura's shirt and pulling him towards the section, and the reluctance on Sawamura's face was clear.

Idiot.

Yukari moved back to his duties, moving towards the aisles of books and scanning the shelves. A lot of students picked up books, scanned them and put them back in the wrong place, and it particularly bothered him when they were placed flat on the top of the shelf rather than in between other books. Immediately Yukari noticed several books lying flat on the shelf, moving to them and scanning the covers, placing them in the correct alphabetical places. He noticed several others were in the wrong order and quickly arranged them, assuring himself they were correctly in order before moving to the next aisle.

Library Duty was probably the best decision Yukari had made so far. It was quiet, peaceful, he got to read books and arrange them properly to make the Library perfect, and he got to discipline students who were too loud – provided he didn't make a scene – and so Yukari was content. True, most students were athletic types, and so you would think there would be less people in the Library, but the opposite was true, it meant more studying in order to assure they actually passed. This was still High School, and so passing classes came before sports. That meant there were more people in the Library than you would think, which in turn gave Yukari more books to arrange and more loud students to discipline.

It was perfect, and he was glad he hadn't taken a sports club.

Then there was a shout, the voice belonging to none other than Sawamura, and Yukari moved immediately.

* * *

Seishiro Ichimonji sat on his favourite sofa in the lounge of the sixth floor of West Tokyo General Hospital, where the terminally ill patients stayed in residence, staring at the door patiently, Kudara doing the same. Honestly, he hadn't been remotely surprised when the bubbly girl had walked in, moving to him in an instant and hugging him tightly with that huge grin of hers. Kudara was such a sweetheart, coming to visit him, but she was also here to see Sekozawa, since according to her she hadn't found him at his school this morning.

Seishiro had informed her that Sekozawa did not in fact play sports anymore, eliciting a whine from her, but that quickly settled, and they both waited in patience for him. Seishiro was looking for a game of shogi, since Kudara didn't know how to play, and Kudara simply missed her best friend.

The two were sweet, really, despite Sekozawa's uncaring appearance. Seishiro had known Kudara long before Sekozawa, but when Sekozawa had appeared it was as if some switch went off in Kudara's head, and suddenly it was 'Seko-chan' this and 'Seko-chan' that, and they both visited him as often as they could.

Kudara had once been a resident of this hospital, diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour. She had arrived when she was eleven, had the tumour removed a few weeks later, but it took years of therapy before the doctors could safely say she was cure of the cancer. During this time she had met Seishiro, and Seishiro treated her like a daughter. After all, he was the oldest resident of this hospital, and so he knew everyone here.

Even after Kudara was cured she visited every few days, making sure he was alright, and always talking to Sekozawa when she could. It was like a little family had been formed, and Seishiro enjoyed their visits above all else.

"Oh, there he is!" Kudara cried, and Seishiro looked up as Sekozawa walked through the door, his bored mask in place, and in an instant Kudara was moving.

"Seko-chan ~" she exclaimed, engulfing the smaller boy in a hug, and Seishiro mentally chuckled at the height difference. Kudara bordered on six foot, whilst Sekozawa was 5'5, making Kudara look a few years older, when in reality they were the same age.

"Kudara-kun, let go of me" Yukari ordered, but Kudara didn't budge.

"But Seko-chan!" she exclaimed, tightening the hug, "I missed you! How have you been? How's high school? Is everyone treating you alright? Where were you this morning? Are you doing OK in dorms? Tell me, Seko-chan! ~" she practically wailed, and Seishiro smiled in amusement as Sekozawa strained against her vice grip hug.

"Shiomi, you should let him go" Seishiro advised amusedly, and immediately she let go, turning to Seishiro with wide child-like eyes.

"But Ichi-chan!" she complained, and Sekozawa dusted himself off, moving past Kudara and sitting down on the sofa opposite Seishiro.

"Hello, Seishiro-kun" he said blankly, his hair slightly messed from Kudara's death hug, and Seishiro smiled radiantly.

"It's nice to see you, Sekozawa" he greeted, and Sekozawa's hued green eyes flickered to Kudara as she sat down next to him.

"_Vous n'étes pas le seul"_ he muttered, and Seishiro chuckled amusedly. Immediately he moved the shogi board that he'd already set up to the centre of the table, and Sekozawa moved the first piece without hesitation.

"Seko-chan, what did the doctors say?" Kudara asked immediately, but Sekozawa didn't spare her a glance.

"It will be a year at most before they can get a donor" he replied calmly, and Seishiro refused to frown at his statement.

"Don't worry" he reassured, moving his own piece, "It won't be long until you can play sports again". Sekozawa didn't react at all to his statement, moving his own piece.

"Yay!" Kudara cheered, hugging Sekozawa tightly again, "We get to see Seko-chan play sports soon!"

"Kudara-kun, get off me" Sekozawa ordered, and Kudara reluctantly let go with a pout on her face.

"I'm not interested in sports anymore" he continued bluntly, moving his own shogi piece.

"But Seko-chan" Kudara cut in, "Of course you are! Isn't that why you went to a sports school?"

"I transferred to Seidou because it has dorms, and it's close to the hospital" Sekozawa returned without changing expression, and Seishiro sighed as he moved his own piece.

"Really Sekozawa, did you give no thought to your choice of High School other than the fact it was close to the hospital?" he asked exasperated.

"Of course" Sekozawa replied, moving his own piece, "Grades are what's important, not the school"

"But Seko-chan" Kudara added, "You could have stayed at Inashiro, and the school is way better for grades than Seidou"

"I hated Inashiro" Sekozawa cut in, his voice slightly sterner than usual, and that immediately silenced them both. Seishiro bit his lip, not saying anymore as he moved his own piece on the board, and the game continued. Of course Seishiro understood Sekozawa's reasons, and if he were in the same position he probably would have done the same, but the fact he'd chosen a less academic school would bring down his career choices.

Not that Sekozawa would even listen to him.

"Oh, Seko-chan" Kudara suddenly said, "Are you getting dinner after your check-up?"

"That's right" he replied, "I'm going to the noodle shop down the road". Kudara smiled widely, prodding his cheek playfully.

"I bet they sell really spicy foods, isn't that right, Seko-chan?" she asked teasingly, but Sekozawa didn't change expression.

"That's right" he repeated, and Kudara smiled wider still.

"Alright" she said with sudden renewed energy, "I'm coming with you"

"You need to go home, Kudara-kun" Sekozawa interjected, but she wasn't fazed.

"I don't need to be home for hours, and besides, it'll be your treat, seeing you have so much money" she declared, and Sekozawa frowned. Seishiro always made sure to watch carefully when Sekozawa ever had an expression on his face, they were quite rare, but not as rare as they used to be.

"Fine" he stated, and Kudara cheered.

* * *

When the team collected in Miyuki's room, to say they were surprised was an understatement. For some reason or another, the room was entirely clean and organized, the sheets folded and immaculate, and books on the desk arranged. Clutter on the floor had been moved, probably put in various drawers, and there were sticky notes on the walls.

It was the sticky notes that got Miyuki. They looked like hands, and the fingers of the hands had been folded back to make various hand-signs. One, with only the ring finger visible, made a pointing hand that pointed to a stack of papers on the desk, reading '_Due Monday'._ Another sticky note had no folded fingers, looking like a high-five hand, written on it: '_Seishiro-kun's birthday gift'_

And there was Yukari, sat on his bed on the top bunk, writing out whatever in a black notebook. Yukari looked up to them, closing the notebook and putting it down.

"What did you do?" Jun asked first.

"I organized the room" Yukari replied without hesitation, and they collectively frowned.

"Well" Ryousuke added to break the silence, "It is a lot neater now"

"I don't like it" Jun cut in, but the group ignored him, moving to their various places. Kuramochi and Ryousuke took the games console, whilst Tetsuya found the shogi board easily and began to lay out the pieces. Miyuki sighed, moving to Tetsuya and sitting down opposite him, helping him arrange the pieces, and Jun settled for throwing himself onto his bed.

Miyuki actually kind of liked how everything was organized, and the sticky notes looked pretty cool and convenient. The fact they could make hand-signs was helpful, and so Miyuki couldn't really fault it.

"Yukari" he stated, glancing up to the white-haired kid.

"What?" Yukari asked without looking up from his notebook, which he was continuing to write in.

"Who's Seishiro-kun?" Miyuki asked curiously, but Yukari still didn't look up.

"He's a friend of mine" he responded bluntly, and Miyuki cocked his head curiously.

"How come you don't have sticky notes for _our_ birthdays?" he asked pointedly.

"Because you're not important" Yukari replied, still not looking up. Miyuki twitched, and frowned childishly.

"So cruel" he muttered.

"And anyway" Yukari added, "I don't know your birthdays, so how could I make notes on them?". Miyuki looked up, realisation dawning, and he smiled widely and made a little 'v' with his fingers.

"Well, mine's February 19th, be sure to note that down" he stated happily, but Yukari still didn't stop writing.

"I see" was all he said, and Miyuki mentally sweat-dropped. Tetsuya finished arranging the pieces, and he began moving the first piece, which gave Miyuki an immediate advantage as he moved his own. Ryousuke seemed content playing against Kuramochi, the sounds of battle cries and yelps of pain radiating from the games console, and Jun had produced a manga from somewhere, reading it contently.

"Wait a minute" Ryousuke said suddenly, and the group collectively looked up to him.

"What is it, Ryo-san?" Kuramochi asked curiously, and Ryousuke turned away from the game to look at Yukari.

"Yukari-kun, I don't suppose you know someone called Kudara Shiomi?" he asked curiously, and Miyuki raised an eyebrow curiously. Who was that? Kuramochi looked equally confused, and they looked up at Yukari, who was still writing.

"I do" was his blunt response, and Kuramochi's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait, _you're_ 'Seko-chan'?" he asked incredulously, and Miyuki frowned deeply. What were they talking about?

"That's right" Yukari responded without looking up, and Miyuki could hear Jun mutter under his breath.

"Oh" Ryousuke said after a pause, "Yukari _Seko_-zawa. That makes sense"

"What are you guys talking about?" Miyuki asked, his confusion getting the better of him.

"Some girl was standing by the fields this morning" Ryousuke explained, "Looking for 'Seko-chan'"

"She was pretty hot" Kuramochi added, and in an instant a text book suddenly appeared, meeting Kuramochi's face and slamming him into the floor, eliciting a yelp of pain. The rest of them watched in shock, turning to Yukari, who had not moved a millimetre from his previous position.

"Do not call Kudara-kun hot, _Youichi"_ he ordered without glancing in his direction, and for some reason Miyuki shivered. He didn't like the way Kuramochi's name rolled off his tongue at all. There was a long silence, and Kuramochi pulled himself up with a groan.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Ryousuke asked to break the silence. Miyuki's eyes widened, turning to Yukari incredulously.

"Of course not" Yukari replied bluntly, "She's too loud"

"But she was looking for you" Ryousuke pointed out.

"Kudara-kun is a very clingy person" Yukari stated without pause.

By this point Miyuki and Tetsuya had both abandoned their game in favour of watching the exchange, Jun similarly putting down his manga.

"But she seems to like you a lot" Ryousuke teased, but Yukari didn't rise to the bait.

"She is friendly with me" Yukari agreed, "But I only tolerate her"

"Really? She seems really nice" Ryousuke continued, and Yukari shut his book, putting that and his pen down and turning to Ryousuke.

"What do you want, Ryousuke?" he asked.

"Just the truth" Ryousuke responded calmly, the usual smirk on his face.

"The truth is I'm very close to burying a pen in your forehead, Ryousuke" Yukari replied with complete and utter calm. There was a long silence, and suddenly Jun was on his feet, grinding his teeth in anger.

"Oi, address your senpai with respect!" he demanded.

"No" Yukari replied, barely glancing at him, and Jun ground his teeth further.

And then there was the sudden chiming sound of a phone, and Yukari produced his phone, pressing a button and holding the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked down the phone.

"_SEKO-CHAN!"_ a girlish voice shouted down the other end, and Yukari immediately moved the phone away from his ear at arm-length. Miyuki jumped at the sound, watching curiously with the rest of the group. Was that the Kudara girl they were talking about?

"Seko-chan!" the voice continued down the phone, Yukari continuing to hold it away from him, "I missed you! Where are you now? Are you at the dorms? Are your roommates there? Can I talk to them? Are they nice to you? Tell me, Seko-chan! ~"

Yukari hung up, putting the phone down and picking up his notebook and pen like nothing had happened.

Everyone else stared at him like he'd grown a second head, and Yukari looked up to them, held the stare for a moment, and then glanced down at his notebook again in disinterest.


	4. Daily Check-Ups

**This is basically filling the blanks of Yukari + Jun's developing hatred of him.**

**I've been busy with my other fics, and my exams for college are in a month, so I'm updating slower and slower. Sorry about that.**

* * *

The sounds of the baseball field echoed, players running back and forth, pitching, batting and fielding. The clang of the metallic bat, the shouts of the players and the loud smack as a ball made contact with a glove. These sounds were all very nostalgic to Yukari, bringing back memories of playing baseball for Inashiro in middle school. It reminded him of the team, and their constant talk of being the very best, winning game after game, and cheering each other on.

Yukari was half-tempted to pick up a glove and start playing like nothing had happened, but he supressed the urge. It was morning practice, and Yukari had chosen to sit in the dug-out of the field rather than the tree, because it was rather sunny today, and Yukari never liked sunny days. He always preferred the dreary weather of Calais rather than the hot weather of Tokyo, and he knew that as the days went on the weather would get progressively warmer.

No one seemed to have noticed him yet, sitting at the back of the dugout. The coach was standing with his back to him, watching with his usual ramrod straight posture and folded arms. There were several others sat next to him, and Yukari identified Takashima and the third year called Chris, with one other person who seemed quite fat, with a cap on his head, who seemed to do nothing but talk about the team. He sounded really annoying.

The team itself were interesting. Yukari had learned that the pitcher with the fast ball was called Furuya, and while he had to admit it was extraordinarily fast, it had zero accuracy at all. Furuya seemed to be just throwing, with little or no control behind it, and he seemed to have low stamina. All his opponents had to do was force him to foul repeatedly and Furuya would be finished.

Sawamura, on the other hand, irritated him. For all his worth, Yukari couldn't figure out a single reason why Sawamura was in the first string. His pitch was interesting, but he didn't have the faintest clue how he did it, and more often than not he missed because his ball control was beyond awful. He couldn't bat, he couldn't field, and he couldn't pitch accurately. To Yukari, Sawamura sounded completely useless and a burden.

Yukari glanced sideways, noticing Tetsuya approaching the dugout, walking in a rather powerful manner that Yukari had found associated with being the captain. His face was stony was ever, and the coach turned as he approached.

"How is training, Yuki?" he asked bluntly.

"Everything is working smoothly, coach" Tetsuya replied in a no-nonsense manner, and Yukari almost rolled his eyes. Things were hardly going smoothly, were they even paying attention to the team? Yukari could pick out at least five different fatal weaknesses in the team.

"Good, I expect everyone to be in their top condition" the coach replied in an equal manner, and Tetsuya nodded, his eyes happening to glance sideways, landing on Yukari and widening, to which Yukari returned with his bored stare.

"Coach, what is he doing here?" he asked pointedly, and there was a small collective 'hm?' from them as they turned around, all spotting Yukari sitting only a few feet behind them. The fat guy was the first to react.

"Oi" he exclaimed, standing up from his seat, "How long have you been there?"

"I've been here the whole time" Yukari returned without even glancing at him, staring at nothing in particular.

"You" the coach began, "I thought I told you I would ban you from the fields"

"You did" Yukari agreed, his eyes flickering to him, "But I ignored you". The fat man gaped at him, and Tetsuya's eyes widened in surprise. The coach's face remained stoic.

"And what makes you think I won't ban you?" the coach asked pointedly.

"Are you even paying attention?" Yukari returned bluntly, eliciting looks of surprise from all of them, "The amount of spectators that come here to watch Seidou's practice easily outnumber me". The coach opened his mouth to speak.

"Though you could ban me" Yukari cut in before he could speak, "After all, it's not like Seidou can function adequately in the presence of others".

The looks of the five before him hardened, but Yukari didn't hesitate to send them his blank, bored stare.

"Fine then" the coach said after a while, "What do you want?"

"Nothing" Yukari replied, "I just thought I would watch Seidou practice, it's not like I have anything else to do". The looks of the five hardened again, but Yukari wasn't even looking at them anymore.

"Yuki, go back to practice" the coach ordered.

"Yes coach" Tetsuya replied without hesitation, turning away and jogging off. Yukari watched him go, looking back to the three adults and Chris.

"If that's the case" Chris began when it was clear no one would speak, "Would you mind helping me, Yukari?". Yukari's eyes flickered to him, barely widening in surprise.

"With what?" he returned bluntly.

"Chris!" the fat man exclaimed in surprise, "What are you trying to do? This kid isn't on-"

"Let him speak" the coach cut in, and the fat man turned in surprise to him.

"Coach!" he protested.

"You seem to have good insight, what do you think of the team?" Chris asked, ignoring them both, and the fat man gaped in surprise. Yukari simply paused for half a second.

"Would you like the long or short version?" he asked bluntly, and Chris' eyes narrowed.

"The long version" he stated.

"This is ridiculous!" the fat man protested, "Asking a random kid for his opinion on the team! This is-"

"Shut up, you're annoying me" Yukari cut in, and the man stopped and gaped, his face going angry with rage. The coach didn't seem to care, and Takashima looked at him with amusement in her eyes.

"Oi, I am the assistant coach of this team!" the man exclaimed angrily, "And I expect some respect from you"

"Well you won't get any" Yukari returned equally blunt, "Being the assistant coach means absolutely nothing, and it's a meaningless title. I've been sat here for twenty minutes, and all you've done is ask the coach for his opinion"

The fat man's face went so red Yukari thought he might explode, and he imagined what it would look like if his head blew up. At least that'd be one headache out the way.

"Coach!" the fat man exclaimed, turning to him, but the coach just looked at him levelly.

"Be quiet, I want to hear what he says" he stated, and the man gaped.

"I too, am interested in Yukari-kun's opinion" Takashima added, and the man just looked at them like they had betrayed him.

"Answering your question" Yukari began, ignoring them, "Seidou has huge weaknesses, and their play is very uncoordinated". There was a long pause, and the eyes of the four flared.

"How so?" Chris asked curiously.

"Your pitchers are your biggest weakness" Yukari returned bluntly, "Furuya has a very fast pitch, but he has zero ball control and throws without thought. He has low stamina, and a complete lack of baseball knowledge, so if the batters forced him to throw fouls, Furuya could easily be stopped". Takashima took a step forward in interest, her glasses glinting in the sunlight.

"What about Tanba-kun?" she asked curiously.

"Tanba is by far your best pitcher" Yukari replied, barely glancing at her, "But he's just average. He has good control with his curveball, and it's difficult to hit, however that curveball is all he can throw, and once you understand it's not going to hit your face it's easy to hit"

"And Sawamura?" the coach asked without missing a beat, and Yukari almost scoffed.

"Get rid of him" he stated bluntly, and he noted Chris' eyes widening in shock.

"Why would you say that?" Takashima asked, seeming equally surprised.

"He's useless" Yukari replied, "Sawamura's pitch is interesting, but he has no idea how he does it, he has zero ball control, often misses the glove all together, and doesn't have the faintest clue how to control the bases during a game. He can't pitch, field or bat, and frankly he is an annoyance to everyone"

The stares he received were a mixture; the coach was as blunt as ever, while Takashima and Chris' stares were sharp and calculating. The fat man looked like he might kill him.

"And what about Kawakami?" Chris asked after a long pause. Yukari paused for a second.

"Who?" he asked bluntly, and Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Kawamaki" he repeated, "He's our reserve ace and fourth pitcher". Yukari didn't know anyone like that, and Seidou had four pitchers? That would be useful, but what was this about a 'reserve ace'?

"I don't know him" Yukari replied, and Chris' eyebrow rose further.

"It doesn't matter" the coach cut in, "I want to hear what you think about the fielders and batters".

Yukari didn't hesitate, opening his mouth to criticize each player for a long list of reasons.

* * *

He hated him.

No, he _despised _him.

Normally, he would have been totally fine with his annoying, ignorant, disrespectful roommate, since he could avoid him during classes and baseball practice. Then suddenly, like some sort of karma, Tetsuya had turned around and announced that he was watching them from the dugout, and suddenly everyone kept looking back at the dugout, at the puff of white hair, with looks of curiosity and interest.

And Jun Isashiki wanted to punch them all in the face for it.

Why were the so interested in him anyway? He refused to treat others with respect, blatantly insulted them and the team, ignored them and berated them on a regular basis, and didn't hesitate to threaten them with death.

Jun hated it when others didn't treat their upperclassmen with respect above many things.

But then Ryousuke and Kuramochi started spouting random crap about how _'interesting' _he is, and Jun almost screamed at them, and suddenly his usual fun and rewarding baseball practice was completely ruined, and what made it worse was that the whole time the little shit in the dugout never left, and the coach was asking _for his opinion._

Jun knew he used to play baseball, but who gives a shit!? If he stopped playing it, he must have sucked, so he didn't mean anything, and yet there they were, asking away about the team, and the kid picked at the team like a plate of food.

That pretty much ruined his mood for the rest of the day, and so it was next to impossible for him to concentrate on his classes, and it was at the end of third period that Chris approached him as he was packing his books away.

"What's wrong?" he asked bluntly, "You've been acting strangely this morning". Jun scowled deeply, annoying flaring, and he resisted the urge to tell him to piss of.

"Nothing's wrong" he replied angrily, "I'm just having a bad day"

"Liar" Chris said instantly.

Jun slammed his fist on the table, out of angry reflex, silencing at least half the room in the process, and he ground his teeth in anger, tossing his last book into his bag and walking away with it. Chris, of all people, should not be the one to ask that, he was the one who had asked for the brat's opinion to begin with. _'He has remarkable insight'_ he said. Screw that! The little shit was better off watching them like a cheerleader than insulting their team.

Jun scowled deeply, clenching his hands into tight fists, students in front of him moving out of the way at the sight of his expression. He wasn't hungry, and he wasn't in the mood to sit through lunch. He needed a quiet place to think.

He didn't use Seidou's library much, but it was welcoming, and more importantly, quiet. Sure, from time to time he needed to put in some hours of studying, especially so during exams, and so he knew his way around. Jun stormed in, scowling deeply as he quickly found a table in the corner of the room, dumping his bag on it and moving towards the bookshelves quickly. He needed something to read to take his mind off things, and he'd left his manga back in his room. Fortunately there was a whole section on manga, which Jun found himself in front of immediately, scanning the spines curiously. Some he'd already read, but most he'd never heard of. He reminded himself to borrow some manga from the library later.

He eventually took one manga, scanning the cover and nodding to himself, taking it with him back to his table. The silence was helping him focus, and Jun sighed as he moved back into his chair, opening the manga immediately and reading it. Instantly he became engrossed, reading with a sense of attachment as he focused entirely on the manga, completely forgetting about the angry swirls building up in his stomach.

He had no idea how long he read for, probably about twenty minutes.

"Excuse me, where can I find the text books?" he heard a voice ask, but Jun ignored it. It was probably some student asking someone.

"They're at the back of the room in the left corner"

Jun's head snapped up so quickly to the sound of the voice he was sure he'd given himself whiplash, but at this moment in time he didn't care.

Because he really wished he hadn't looked up.

"Thank you" the student said, walking away, but Jun just stared the other kid down like he was a ghost. It was the little white-haired shit, his roommate.

Yukari glanced in his direction, turning to him and staring at him blankly for a moment, in which Jun was sure he was having a nightmare, and the one person who was pissing him off so much was not standing right in front of him. A moment later, Yukari just turned and walked away without hesitation, and Jun felt a vein in his temple throb. What the hell was _he_ doing here?

He didn't know why, but he was on his feet instantly, storming after the white-haired shit, catching up to him quickly and clapping a firm hand on his shoulder.

"What" he demanded, "The hell are you doing here?". Yukari barely turned to him, his pale green eyes meeting his.

"There is no talking in the library" he said simply, and Jun blinked in surprise.

"Huh?" he asked, took completely off guard by the question.

"There is. No talking. In the library" Yukari repeated slower, emphasising his words, and Jun ground his teeth.

"Why the hell are you here?" he asked, ignoring Yukari entirely.

"I'm the assistant librarian" Yukari replied calmly, "I help during lunch everyday"

Oh. Of course. How _convenient. _Jun, in order to get his mind off the little shit, and walked into the library during the time the little shit was on duty.

Life just wasn't fair.

"Let go of my shoulder" Yukari ordered, and Jun blinked, momentarily forgetting about what he was doing, and he removed his hand from Yukari immediately, who turned and walked away like nothing had happened.

Jun felt another vein in his temple throb, and instantly he was storming after him again. He wasn't finished with this little shit yet.

* * *

Yukari never really liked his daily check-ups at the hospital. To him, it was a waste of time, since there was never any change or improvement, and when there was in the rare occasions it was when his blood pressure had gotten higher than normal. But he had to stomach it and deal with it, in order to protect his own health, as much as he hated to admit it.

"130/90" the doctor declared, reading the dial, and Yukari nodded diligently. That was normal enough for his standards.

"Have you been eating well, Yukari-kun?" he asked - the same question he asked every day. It was procedure.

"I have" Yukari replied bluntly, and the doctor nodded.

"Are you getting enough protein in your diet?" he asked next, and again Yukari nodded with such a bored absence of thought it was almost painful.

"I am" Yukari replied, "I had tofu noodles yesterday". The doctor nodded, as if he'd expected the answer.

"Any problems breathing? Chest pain?"

"No, there's been no problems" Yukari replied in complete monotone, and the doctor nodded again in approval.

"Good, we need to do a quick scan of your chest, and then you can go"

Yukari didn't even know why they bothered explaining the process to him anymore; he'd been doing it for the past one and a half years. He simply nodded diligently, removing his shirt without a care, and the doctor moved to his side-table, pulling a monitor across and a small scanner the size of his hand. Yukari stood up from his chair, moving to the flat bed to the side of the room and sat on the edge diligently.

"Here" the doctor stated, handing him a bottle of water, and Yukari took it wordlessly, emptying the whole bottle in a single, long gulp. He then lay down on the bed, and the doctor moved back to his side table, producing a small bottle. He had already put on gloves, and had produced a palette knife, and wordlessly held the bottle over Yukari's chest and squirted a tiny blob of blue gel from the bottle, spreading it with the palette knife. It was cold, but Yukari ignored it and stared up at the ceiling as the gel was applied to his chest. His doctor was a trained sonographer, specialising in ultrasound scans, which he needed once a week on top of his daily check-ups. The procedure only took fifteen minutes, but it was a chore nonetheless.

"Ready?" the doctor asked.

"Yes" Yukari replied, completely bored, and the doctor nodded. He placed the scanner on Yukari's chest and flicked a little switch, and instantly an image appeared on the screen next to the doctor. It was hazy, but it gradually grew clearer, and eventually Yukari could see his lungs rather clearly.

"There doesn't seem to be any build-up" the doctor noted, and Yukari just glanced at the blurred image of his lungs on the screen. He'd been through this procedure far too often. The doctor continued moving the scanner over his chest, watching the screen carefully for any deposits of blood that might have built up.

Yukari just stared at the ceiling in absolute boredom. It was always like this, come to the hospital, talk to Seishiro-kun, go for his check-up, have his blood pressure measured; some questions, and then an ultrasound scan of his lungs and heart once a week.

"I'm going to look at your heart now" the doctor declared, and Yukari didn't bother responding as the doctor moved the device over his heart, and the image changed rapidly. His heart looked the same as always, and there didn't seem to be any issues with the blood moving. All he had to do was keep his heart rate down and Yukari would be fine.

"No problems with your heart either" the doctor noted out loud, and Yukari mentally sighed. His doctor always changed every couple of months, because of the different patients that entered changed the timetables of a lot of doctors. One thing they didn't have was a stable schedule – people could walk through the door at any time. The doctor continued to scan his chest, checking all parts of his heart before nodding to himself in satisfaction.

"OK, we're done" he declared, flicking the device off, and Yukari sat up as he moved back to the side table, grabbing a towel and tossing it to him. Yukari took it, wiping off the gel on his chest quickly. The towel would be washed anyway, and taking a shower would be a pain.

"Your symptoms haven't worsened, Yukari-kun, it's a good sign" the doctor declared, and Yukari looked up to him.

"But it's not progress" he stated, and the doctor's smile twitched slightly.

"With your condition, Yukari-kun" he said carefully, "There isn't any 'progress', it's just a matter of time until you get a donor heart"

_Or die from a heart attack_

"Yukari-kun" the doctor continued, "Are you sure you don't want to have artificial heart valve surgery? I understand that you wouldn't be able to play sports with one, but you've been waiting for a donor for one and a half years"

"I'll wait" Yukari said simply, barely glancing at him as he wiped his chest, "As long as I keep my heart rate down I won't have an attack, so I can survive until then"

"But Yukari-kun" the doctor rebutted, his voice sterner than before, "There is always the slight risk of having an attack. You could suffer from a heart attack at any given time"

"I've already had two" Yukari said simply, wiping the last of the gel from his chest, "One more won't kill me". His doctor frowned deeply.

"Yukari-kun, the saying 'third time lucky' doesn't apply here".

But Yukari wasn't listening anymore, standing up and grabbing his uniform shirt, buttoning it back up quickly.

"I can wait a year for a donor" Yukari stated finally, and his doctor sighed.

"Yukari-kun, the donors list changes all the time, you might get a donor in a year as you say, or you might move up and get one within a few months. It's subjective on the lives of those who choose to donate their hearts"

Yukari knew that, and despite his stubbornness, he really wished that the list would move faster like the doctor said, so he could get the heart transplant already.

Yukari simply walked out the door, knowing that he didn't need to stay any longer. He turned, and was completely unsurprised to find Kudara standing a few feet away from him.

"Seko-chan!" she exclaimed at the sight, moving to him in an instant, "How'd it go?"

"Fine, Kudara-kun" Yukari replied bluntly, "There's no change"

"Great!" Kudara exclaimed with inexplicable enthusiasm, "Soon you'll be able to play sports again, Seko-chan!". Yukari simply stepped around her, walking down the white and sterile hallway, and Kudara jogged after him, keeping pace easily.

"So, Seko-chan" she began, her voice becoming serious, "Have you decided on what you're getting Ichi-chan for his birthday?". Yukari's eyes flickered to her, instantly understanding the seriousness of the conversation.

"I have ideas" Yukari admitted, "But none of them are good enough"

"I'm the same" Kudara whined childishly, throwing her arms in the air and folding them behind her head, "I've known Ichi-chan for way longer, but buying things for him is impossible"

"Seishiro-kun has artistic talents" Yukari listed, "He particularly likes drawing. He loves animals, old history and reading newspapers. He also had a hobby of gardening, and enjoys classic music"

"So that gives us an art pad and pencils" Kudara thought out loud, "Flowers, a music player or something animal-related"

"A portable music player? Like a small iPod" Yukari suggested, "It would be convenient for Seishiro-kun, and we could get earphones too, so the other residents aren't disturbed by it"

"That's a good idea, Seko-chan" Kudara praised, "Ichi-chan's good with technology compared with most old people"

"But would it be good enough?" Yukari wondered, cupping his chin thoughtfully as they approached the end of the corridor and moved through the doors. The elevator appeared in front of them, and Kudara pressed the button, turning to Yukari with a wide smile.

"You really care about getting Ichi-chan a good present, don't you Seko-chan?" she asked with a huge smile, and Yukari glanced at her but did not respond. Kudara smiled wider, leaning forward and poking Yukari's cheek playfully.

"Seko-chan, you're so cute for someone so rude and boring" she stated happily, and Yukari swatted her hand away softly, frowning at her in annoyance. Kudara and Seishiro were probably the only two people in the world who could elicit a reaction from him.

"And you have the mental age of a five year old, Kudara-kun" Yukari returned bluntly, and Kudara frowned.

"So mean, Seko-chan…" she muttered childishly, and she definitely did not look sixteen in that moment.

The elevator chimed, and the doors mechanically slid open. Yukari stepped in immediately, Kudara a step behind her, and she pressed the button for the ground floor.

"Seko-chan, can I visit your team next week?" Kudara asked suddenly.

"They're not my team, Kudara-kun" Yukari replied bluntly.

"Is that a yes?" Kudara pried.

"No" Yukari stated, and Kudara whined childishly.

"Seko-chan, why not?" she asked.

"Because you have your own school to go to" Yukari replied, looking at the doors instead of her.

"But Seko-chan" Kudara argued, "I can visit until 8"

"Kudara-kun" Yukari stated bluntly, "I'm not part of the baseball club"

"But you watch them practice, and you might get to be the manager again" Kudara argued, and Yukari restrained a frown.

"Don't show up to their practice, Kudara-kun. They're bad enough as it is, you'll only distract them"

The elevator doors slid open, and the two stepped out. Kudara didn't say anymore, and Yukari knew that was a bad sign. She was thinking, and when she was thinking bad things were about to happen.

Yukari mentally sighed. He'd expected her to ignore him anyway.

* * *

Takashima Rei moved with restrained and refined steps towards the coach's office, cradling her closed laptop in one arm. Normally she would move with a calmer aura, but she wanted to appear composed and instead prevented herself from moving anything faster than a walk, though her recent discovery had her more than a little off-centre right now.

That boy, Yukari Sekozawa. He'd only been here five days, and already he'd picked out many fatal weaknesses of Seidou's baseball team, and what concerned her was that when she really looked at the team she realised he was right, the pitchers especially so. She couldn't understand it, but this sixteen year old had the cognitive abilities to distinguish a player's weaknesses just by looking at them. She had asked how he did it, but his blunt reply had been: 'It's obvious'.

So naturally, since he said that he used to play baseball, Takashima had looked into his history in baseball. The results were far more than she expected.

Takashima turned a corner, finding the door to the coach's office immediately, and knocking on it.

"Come in" his deep voice echoed, and she opened the door. The coach was sat in his chair, signing several papers, and he looked up with that blunt expression of his.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her restrained patience immediately.

"There's something we need to discuss" Takashima replied in a no-nonsense manner. Kataoka seemed to get the hint, putting his pen down and sitting back in his chair. Takashima opened her laptop, setting it on his desk immediately and turning it so Kataoka could see it.

"I looked into Yukari-kun's background after his analysis of our team this morning" she said bluntly, and the coach's eyes narrowed.

"And?" he asked equally blunt, and Takashima tapped the mouse on her laptop, bringing up an image on the screen.

The coach's eyes narrowed harshly at the image.

"He went to Inashiro Industrial Middle School" Takashima explained, "Joining the baseball team in his second year". The coach was silent, and so Takashima decided to continue.

"He played first batsman and centre fielder, and has extraordinary talents in fielding. He was the core of the defence in Inashiro"

"This is…" the coach trailed off at the image, and Takashima nodded.

"That's Yukari-kun in his second year of middle school, holding the National trophy with Narumiya Mei, Inashiro's ace"

The coach frowned deeply, and Takashima frowned equally in a deep silence as Kataoka studied the image. She wasn't surprised really. In all its history, Seidou had gone to the Nationals several times, but they had never won, due to rivals like Inashiro.

"Why doesn't he play baseball anymore?" he asked after a long while, and Takashima nodded.

"I too was curious, and so I did some more checking. I found an article on the game in the National semi-finals in Yukari-kun's third year"

The coach's eyes flickered up to her, and Takashima felt herself frown deeper.

"According to the articles, he collapsed from a heart attack at the end of the eighth inning, and Inashiro were forced to forfeit. Yukari-kun has not played in an official game since"

* * *

It was late in the day, and as usual the baseball players of Seidou were crowding their room. Miyuki didn't even bother protesting as they walked in like they owned the place, it wasn't worth it. He knew they all came to their room because Jun invited them, but he couldn't bring himself to protest. Yukari didn't even care, as usual sat up on his bed on the top bunk, writing in that black book of his, though sometimes he was studying. He had changed out of his uniform and had put on a big black hoodie and faded jeans, but Miyuki hadn't once seen Yukari get changed or – come to think of it – bathe. He'd have to ask about that later.

Miyuki honestly didn't mind Yukari that much. Jun hated him, but then again Jun didn't really like many people, he was just a person who disliked a lot of people. Yukari, in his opinion, was OK. He was rude sometimes, but Miyuki didn't mind it. He seemed really interesting; after all, he had white hair, spoke fluent French, used to play baseball, was really smart and had the spice tolerance of a demon. There was also the fact that his girlfriend was so random and loud, even though Miyuki hadn't met her.

Yukari was really interesting, and so Miyuki didn't mind him at all. He kind of liked his personality.

"Miyuki, can you get me some juice?" Kuramochi spoke up, and Miyuki twitched as he turned to him hesitantly, in the middle of a shogi game with Tetsuya.

"I'll have water please" Ryousuke added, and Miyuki mentally sweat-dropped. He didn't even know why he bothered sometimes.

"What's wrong?" Tetsuya spoke up, "It's your move". Miyuki twitched, restraining a sigh as he turned to Yukari, and Yukari looked up from writing in his book.

"Yukari, can you play with the captain for a while?" he asked, and Yukari wordlessly put his book down and climbed down from the ladder of the bed. It was routine now, for Yukari to play the captain while Miyuki would get drinks, and then Miyuki would end up massaging Jun's feet rather than getting some sleep.

"Thanks" he said to him, but Yukari didn't respond as he took Miyuki's place in front of the board. Instantly Miyuki was out the door, moving down the platform and down the stairs towards the vending machines. He hated having to do this, but he couldn't say no to any of them, and frankly as long as they eventually left Miyuki could put up with it. It didn't make him feel any better though.

Frankly as long as Yukari was there to distract Tetsuya, he could leave and go and get drinks, which made the whole system bearable. It had been much worse the first week, when Yukari hadn't transferred yet, and Miyuki had often got more complaining than actual helping done. Yukari being here was at least a nice change in that respect, and so Miyuki could deal with him. Honestly, he didn't get why Sawamura and Jun hated him so much, Yukari was actually OK.

Miyuki found the machine, sighing to himself as he reluctantly produced his wallet and inserted the coins, grabbing the drinks that he needed. Jun would definitely want a cola as usual, and Tetsuya would want oolong tea. Miyuki got a bottle of water, a can of orange juice, pepsi and oolong tea. He paused, deciding to insert another few coins and getting a soda for Yukari.

After awkwardly gathering five drinks at once and cradling them in his arms, Miyuki walked away from the machine, trekking up the stairs slowly in order not to drop the drinks he was carrying. Once he reached the top, almost dropping a bottle and having to angle his elbow awkwardly in order to catch it, he continued on to his room, pushing the door open with his back. The room was exactly how he left it, and Miyuki forced a smile as he handed the drinks out.

"Pepsi for Jun-san" he said, handing the drink to him, and Jun nodded in thanks.

"Oolong tea for Tetsu-san" he said next, handing the drink to him, and Tetsuya mirrored Jun's nod of thanks.

"Soda for Yukari" he said, holding the drink to him, and for a brief moment there was surprise in Yukari's eyes, which was probably the only sort of expression Miyuki had actually seen from him, and Yukari wordlessly took the drink. Miyuki frowned, hoping the moment of actual expression from Yukari had lasted longer.

"Juice for Kuramochi" he said, recovering quickly, handing the respective drinks, "And water for Ryousuke"

"Thanks, Miyuki"

"Thank you, Miyuki-kun"

Miyuki smiled, turning back to the room, but it fell when Jun's eyes immediately landed on his.

"Oi, Miyuki, massage my feet" he demanded, and Miyuki supressed a sigh, since he clearly didn't have the choice, and he sauntered over to Jun, who was laid out on his bed. Miyuki simply sat down on the end, wordlessly grabbing Jun's feet and working out the kinks of his muscles with his thumbs. Honestly, he hated doing this, but what choice did he have when Jun glared at him like that?

"By the way Jun" Ryousuke said suddenly, turning to him, "Where were you at lunch? I never got to ask"

Jun muttered something under his breath that Miyuki couldn't hear, and he looked up to Ryousuke.

"I needed to get some homework done I hadn't finished for class the lesson after" he said bluntly, and Ryousuke cocked his head curiously as Miyuki worked the muscles of Jun's feet. Tetsuya was glancing up at the conversation, and Yukari was just staring at nothing.

"Oh? That's not like you, Jun" Ryousuke noted, and Jun grunted.

"I was tired" he said simply.

"Really?" Ryousuke asked out loud, "I heard from Chris that you seemed very angry at something"

Miyuki was hesitant to continue because of how Jun was grinding his teeth, but he decided to in order to save him from being shot down by Jun's glare.

"I was just tired" Jun said with finality.

"_Ce qui explique beaucoup"_

Miyuki looked up confusedly, as did the rest of the room to Yukari, who was sipping his can of soda casually, noting their stares and lowering his can from his lips.

"Habit" was all he said, and Miyuki frowned. Yukari had a habit of muttering in French?

"What did you say, Yukari?" Kuramochi asked curiously, but Yukari just shrugged.

"It's not important" he said bluntly, and Jun scowled deeply for some reason.

"Oi, Miyuki, I didn't tell you to stop" he snapped, and Miyuki half-jumped and went back to working the muscles of his foot quickly.

"By the way, Yukari-kun" Ryousuke added, "Where did you go after school? Chris was looking for you during practice". Miyuki looked up, remembering that Chris was in fact looking for Yukari. He'd asked a couple of people if they'd seen him and then gave up. He kind of wondered too where Yukari went, since he never watched after school practice.

Jun started swearing under his breath.

"Out of campus" was Yukari's blunt reply.

"I know that" Ryousuke rebutted, "You have permission to leave. But where did you go?"

"None of your business" Yukari replied, shooting Ryousuke down immediately as he moved a piece on the shogi board.

"So it's important" Kuramochi pointed out, but Yukari wasn't glancing at them anymore.

Miyuki didn't dare say a word, because only he could see how much Jun looked like he was going to kill someone.


End file.
